Efterklang Parades WB rating out of 100

There is a tendency these days for bands to be defined by their geographical location. While in past decades both sides of the Atlantic fed off each other in increasingly oscillating feedback waves (ultimately producing such oddities as Ohio-native Robert Pollard’s bizarre British inflections), in what may be described as a nice twist on globalisation perhaps, today’s musical atmosphere seems to reflect regional scenes. Illusory as they may be, they at least project an easily marketable image for that country or area. In such a way, Canada is known for its indie powerhouses, Australia has retro/garage, and Scandinavia put out a fair share of the symphonic pop bands going around. Despite ambition and ability, from the outset of second full-length Parades, Denmark’s Efterklang somehow manage to sound derivative of their Nordic brethren – coming off like a less compelling Mum or a less majestic Sigur Ros. Sonically overlapping with the joyously layered instrumentation created by Mum on 2007’s brilliant Go Go Smear the Poison Ivy, and at times recalling Sigur Ros’ elegiac self-titled 2002 effort; Efterklang, which means ‘reverb’ in Danish, may just be too Scandinavian for their own good.

To continue the regional comparison, Go Go and Sigur Ros found great success in maintaining focus on the song structures, respectively through careful layering and perfect pacing. Even when pop formulas were eschewed in favour of experimental motif-based compositions more akin to classical music, the genius of these albums was to fully guide the listeners first into the aural space of the music, and once there, to keep them entranced and in a state of expectation. While there are moments of brilliance on Parades, much of the album comprises an undistinguished and often random-sounding collage of sounds and atmospheres; albeit redolent of a predominating symphonic and grandiose mood.

Emblematic of this problem is the over-abundance of instrumentation; Parades features an overwhelming array of sounds, but most barely remain long enough to have any effect. One can imagine the five Danes, warm and comfortable in the studio during the winter months, each member adding track-after-track with glee. As an example, ‘Horseback Tenors’ opens with a prominent Okinawan or Central Asian-sounding banjo, which is quickly placed to the back of the mix at 0:20 in favour of a contrasting Celtic sounding fiddle at 1:03, before the track finishes with the combination, over-utilised throughout, of exuberant brass and orchestral 1812 Overture-like drums.  The result is confusing and incoherent, to say the least.  

This foundering approach prevails through most of Parades; tracks blend seamlessly into each other and often the listener is left with nothing to grasp and thus, to remember. Like many songs in the mid-section, there is no defining principle to ‘Horseback Tenors’ and as a song, it is quite a poor attempt. What makes a ‘song’, and thus a pop band, is the vocals; without them Efterklang could be a modern classical band writing sonatas or symphonies for film scores. In a way similar to Sigur Ros’ Jonsi, Efterklang’s lead vocalist Casper Clausen treats words as an unimportant hush. Often they are placed alongside a faux-Medieval choir – largely female despite the band’s all-male line-up – that augments the chosen atmosphere. To the album’s credit, Efterklang thankfully range these atmospheres broadly from funereal to celebratory. However, even if a fault of Parades is to cram as many ideas as possible into each of these atmospheres and thus to muddle them all up it is the choirs – as well as the horns, strings and percussive flourishes – which help in anchoring things down somewhat. 

After the dull mid-section, things kick in again with ‘Cutting Ice to Snow’, which also happens to be the finest and final track. It is the best of the tracks on Parades because it builds suspense. Starting out with a meandering piano and choral interplay, the track slowly introduces brass and a more urgent tinkling piano, which eventually finds its way into typical indie-rock guitar and the trademark orchestral drums. It is this simple combination of booming percussion and jangling guitar that almost solely manages to arrest. The track soon ends, and with it the album.

While it could be argued that Efterklang do not wish to utilise generic means to a catchy end within a pop sensibility, the fact that it is the standout moment on the album says a lot for the potential of the hook in pop music. Bands like Radiohead, the Flaming Lips and Wilco have been such popular and critical successes due to their ability to make avant-garde, conceptual music and to still have the hooks to catch listeners in the only way that traditional pop knows. Efterklang could well benefit from a more measured approach to their song scapes, or alternatively, they could tone down the pop appeal and utilise their substantial talents in the composition of film scores and the like.   

Parades is definitely a beautiful work, and Efterklang are certainly a band capable of creating stark and diverse moods. As a whole, however, and at least for the indie-pop listener, the album fails to maintain sustained interest despite – but more likely because of – the over-abundant instrumentation and constantly morphing song structures.