The Electric Soft Parade | ||
| Allmusic Biography : The Electric Soft Parade began in Brighton, where brothers Alex White (vocals/guitar) and Tom White (drums) recorded sloppy four-track albums and sold them to locals under the moniker Feltro Media. One of these recordings caught the attention of indie DB, which signed the siblings in 2001. Renamed the Electric Soft Parade and enlisting the aid of bassist Matt Thwaites and keyboardist Steve Large, that April the group issued the single "Silent to the Dark," which showcased their mix of latter-day Brit-pop sensibilities with doses of American-style modern rock and psychedelia. DB issued the full-length Holes in the Wall in early 2002, and extensive touring followed. There was even a bit of Oasis-style brotherly strife to spark the interest of the British music press. The Electric Soft Parade jumped to BMG for The American Adventure, which was issued in the U.K. in October 2003. Large left the band during this period, and drummer Matthew Priest was brought into the fold. The band went on the road throughout the next year, sharing the stage with bands like Elbow, Starsailor, and the Who. They then returned to the studio and recorded the Human Body EP, which arrived in 2006. The bands third full-length effort, No Need to Be Down-Hearted, came out a year later. From 2008 to 2010, the band went on hiatus from touring and recording. In 2010, they reunited to perform at the Maximalism! charity concert. The EP A Quick One appeared in 2011. In 2013, the Electric Soft Parade released their fourth studio album, the Chris Hughes- and Mark Frith-produced Idiots. | ||
 | Album: 1 of 5 Title: Holes in the Wall Released: 2002-02-04 Tracks: 12 Duration: 55:50 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Start Again (03:54) 2 Empty at the End (03:01) 3 Theres a Silence (02:52) 4 Somethings Got to Give (03:49) 5 Its Wasting Me Away (04:17) 6 Silent to the Dark (09:00) 7 Sleep Alone (04:09) 8 This Given Line (04:12) 9 Why Do You Try So Hard to Hate Me (04:38) 10 Holes in the Wall (05:14) 11 Biting the Soles of My Feet (06:25) 12 Red Balloon for Me (04:12) |
| Holes in the Wall : Allmusic album Review : The idea of two English late-teenage brothers in a band together may conjure up thoughts of Oasis via Silverchair, but Holes in the Wall, Alex and Tom Whites debut album as the Electric Soft Parade, is a surprisingly assured album. Like Oasis and Silverchair, the Electric Soft Parade proudly wear their musical influences on their sleeves, as Holes in the Wall reveals intimations of bands like Ash, Grandaddy, and Teenage Fanclub. While Holes in the Wall veers more toward indie and psychedelic rock as opposed to the more straightforward power pop of contemporaries Weezer and Sloan, one of the albums greatest virtues is its memorable melodies, as exemplified in the catchy choruses of songs like "Empty at the End" and "Silent to the Dark." The White brothers also have ear-catching production on their side, giving their album true flavor by infusing it with splashes of electronics and keyboards, psychedelic swirl, and the occasional irregular time signature. The ESP have certainly proved that they can rock (embodied by "Theres a Silence"), but most of their slower songs and ballads seem a step behind the rest of the album. Despite a thrilling first half, Holes in the Wall does lose some of its steam in the back end. Still, the Electric Soft Parade have produced a fine debut that should place them firmly in the midst of the post-Brit-pop musical landscape, a scene that they have the potential to shape as they mature. | ||
 | Album: 2 of 5 Title: The Human Body EP Released: 2005-12-05 Tracks: 7 Duration: 25:06 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 A Beating Heart (03:07) 2 Cold World (04:07) 3 Stupid Mistake (02:42) 4 Everybody Wants (06:55) 5 The Captain (03:33) 6 Kick in the Teeth (02:55) 7 So Much Love (01:44) |
 | Album: 3 of 5 Title: No Need to Be Downhearted Released: 2007-04-24 Tracks: 12 Duration: 49:02 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 No Need to Be Downhearted, Part 1 (02:04) 2 Life in the Backseat (03:08) 3 Woken by a Kiss (05:57) 4 If That’s the Case, Then I Don’t Know (04:57) 5 Shore Song (04:24) 6 Misunderstanding (03:37) 7 Secrets (03:46) 8 Cold World (05:32) 9 Have You Ever Felt Like Its Too Late? (03:28) 10 Come Back Inside (03:50) 11 Appropriate Ending (03:01) 12 No Need to Be Downhearted, Part 2 (05:12) |
| No Need to Be Downhearted : Allmusic album Review : The Electric Soft Parade began as a psychedelia-infused indie band that blended the post-grunge fuzziness of Silverchair with the troubled dreaminess of post-Syd Barrett Pink Floyd, and in many respects their third full-length, No Need to be Down-Hearted, shows how little theyve changed. "Woken by a Kiss" drifts, "Comfortably Numb"-style, through much of the same kind of reverb-heavy, druggy, fuzzy territory explored on their first album, Holes in the Wall. And "Shore Song/Surfacing," with its Elliott Smith-like lilt, recalls the dreaminess of American Adventure. But this is a far more commercial album than the second album ever hoped to be, and its probably because No Need is an actual American adventure; its the bands first U.S. release, and their desire to cater to American fans of handclappy Brit-pop is palpable. "Life in the Backseat" is bobble-headed and radio-ready, all organ wails and full-speed-ahead synth lines yanked from a video game. Its addictive, its derivative, and it finds the ESP with the confidence and full-tilt momentum that were sorely missing from their previous releases. No Need to be Downhearted pulls the ESPs dreamy paisley-printed indie rock into sharp focus: this is the band at their most focused and most capable. The synth-heavy meanderings of their second album have been roughed up, and the Spacehog-like bounce of Holes has morphed into angular Brit-pop along the lines of Bloc Party or the Kaiser Chiefs. Theyve given up some of the whimsy and trippiness that marked their first two releases, but theyve gained direction. | ||
 | Album: 4 of 5 Title: A Quick One EP Released: 2011-07-18 Tracks: 4 Duration: 14:51 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 Lily (04:46) 2 Number One (04:14) 3 If I Can Dream (03:21) 4 Orange Crate Art (02:30) |
 | Album: 5 of 5 Title: IDIOTS Released: 2013-06-17 Tracks: 10 Duration: 40:45 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 The Sun Never Sets Around Here (03:23) 2 Summertime in My Heart (03:32) 3 Brother, You Must Walk Your Path Alone (02:35) 4 The Corner of Highdown and Montefiore (07:27) 5 Idiots (04:38) 6 Mr. Mitchell (04:07) 7 One of Those Days (03:05) 8 Lily (04:01) 9 Welcome to the Weirdness (05:19) 10 Never Again (02:38) |