Anders Parker - Skyscraper Crow - September 8, 2009
ANDERS PARKER is a singer/songwriter from Burlington, VT. Fourteen years into his career we are proud to announce the release of his twelfth album - the double concept LP Skyscraper Crow. The Crow portion of the set is unadorned acoustic folk simplicity at it’s finest while Skyscraper is totally computer generated laptop pop. The albums are, at least aesthetically, diametrically opposed, but they are distinctly the work of Parker.
In 2008 ANDERS PARKER moved to Burlington, VT after a number of years in New York City. There he relegated himself to a subterranean basement where he finished work on a series of 4 disparate albums. These records starkly represent 4 different directions of his artistic compass - one acoustic folk, another electronic pop, a third of improv guitar instrumental noise-scapes and the last a rock band barn burner.
Skyscraper Crow is the first installment from the project with the others to follow suit shortly hereafter. Says PARKER, “Skyscraper is my love/hate letter to New York and my life there” adding, “I would create a drum beat and lay down a chord structure in one sitting, then I’d ride the subway for as long as it took to write the lyrics. Then, my friend, Kendall Meade (Mascott), came over and sang background vocals on most of Skyscraper.”
PARKER wrote Crow at the end of 2008 in Burlington after he had finished Skyscraper. “With Crow, I was trying to create small little worlds with each song. I had just moved into my new home on a block surrounded in every direction by squawking crows. The house has a perfect basement for recording, one where you can watch dust float in intense rays of dream light” recollects PARKER.
Before recording under his own name, PARKER performed in the indy-rock/alt-country act Varnaline and played in the space-rock band Space Needle. PARKER’s career has seen him tour with the likes of Bob Mould, Son Volt, Sparklehorse, and The Verses as well as Lollapallooza 1997. In 2006, ANDERS released an album that he recorded with Son Volt and Uncle Tupelo founder, Jay Farrar, under the name Gob Iron. Entitled “Death Songs for the Living,” the record was series of folk songs reinterpreted by the duo.
Matt Brown, founder of Bladen County Records and longtime friend of PARKER, describes his relationship with the singer/songwriter and multi instrumentalist, “I lived with ANDERS for a while. We odd coupled. I’d drink tequila and rant, he’d drink whiskey and smolder. We both got jobs at a little bar called the Stingray. He’s a Northerner and a big guy with a dark presence that likes to drink alone. If a Southerner (like myself) drinks alone, it means he’s probably going to fight. I imagined ANDERS had all the fight he could handle inside of himself; I’d heard his first album “Man of Sin.” I could tell he cared, and that it confounded him.”
ANDERS said goodbye to the southern way of life, packed up his life, leashed his one–eyed dog Oly, and headed north. Bigger cities, icier villages - it’s been a constant theme in his songs and a better place for the first generation Swedish-American who grew up on a farm in upstate New York listening to The Beatles, Husker Du, The Replacements and Bob Dylan.
ANDERS PARKER takes up more room and sound onstage than one of those steel cage spheres that dudes ride motorcycles in at circuses. Some of Anders songs remind me of Lady Ashley from The Sun Also Rises. Some remind me of Fuckhead from Jesus’ Son. Mostly I think of the midget’s mantra from Fire Walk With Me: “Give me all my pain and sorrow”. This fall, he will leave his northeast home and take his carnival-esque one man show across the US in support of Skyscraper Crow.
Press Quotes:
“Tell It to the Dust is Parker’s obvious bid for recognition — and proof that he should get it.”
- Rolling Stone
“Country-rock dipped in LSD? Anders Parker is a tough one to pin down. His songs weave somewhere around the Beatles, Neil Young, Husker Du and the Minutemen, to name a few” - Harp
“…a poignant, articulate voice…superb, emotional” - Magnet
“…his music could be categorized as “alt-classic.”… he distinguishes himself with his songwriting, through a combination of craft, conviction and open ended wonder.” - No Depression
“This is a beautifully confident folk-pop collection.” - CMJ
“A Space Needle side project spotlighting Anders Parker that rolls along like a dustball and actually hums like coherent diary entries (from drug-induced relationship funk that is).” - Spin
“Like Eddie Vedder, Varnaline songwriter Anders Parker seems to idolize Neil Young for his twangy introspection; unlike Pearl Jam, he doesn’t weigh down his melanchology with exhibitionistic melodrama. Whether they’re flirting with a socialist agenda or confronting an existential crisis, Varnaline approach their subject matter with a quiet dignity that eludes most fellow twentysomethings.” - Entertainment Weekly
From Anders Parker - Live at 14th and Division, Portland, OR
Tell it to the Dust
So it Goes
Blackbird Fields
Anders Short Bio from his website: www.andersparker.com
“Anders Parker has released five albums under the Varnaline name, two with Space Needle, two critically acclaimed solo releases (Tell it to the Dust & The Wounded Astronaut) and one soon-to-be-released collaboration with Jay Farrar-under the moniker Gob Iron. His new self-titled album will be released on Baryon Records on October 31, 2006”
Anders own words regarding the B.C.R. release: “14th & Division, Live in Portland, Oregon August 2, 2005 and Friday 24th of August 2007. Out on Bladen County Records September 7, 2007. This is a bootleg recording that the fine folks at BCR had spruced up. Guy Burwell created the cool cover. I played the set and forgot about it.” -Anders Parker
