New Brighton-based Blair Parkes will appear with a new band at Christchurch’s Darkroom on October 20 in support of his recently-released album Cardigan Bay.
An early Flying Nun alumni (All Fall Down, The Letter 5) and member of Range and The L.E.Ds, Parkes has enjoyed airplay on student radio since the mid-1980s. Other releases have appeared on Failsafe and Wrong Records.
Self-recorded in Parkes' home studio and mastered in Tokyo by Failsafe Records founder Rob Mayes, Cardigan Bay is a beautiful cacophony of analogue pop tunes.
The songs form short, sun-drenched vignettes that are distinctly vintage Flying Nun (David Kilgour, The Clean), with a trace of 1960s pop-psychedelia (Buffalo Springfield, The Byrds).
Parkes will be joined by a new band consisting of Ryan Chin (Doprah), Luke Sole (Fraser Ross and The Felt Tips) and Ben Baird (Schofield Spires).
You can hear Parkes’ love of lush melodic pop. He layers his gentle, tuneful vocals, then swathes them in reverbs, creating the harmonic landscape of a late-60s soft-rock record.
- Nick Bollinger, Radio New Zealand.
“…there's something about the way Blair records that produces a lovely, warm, thick sound.”
- Russell Brown, Public Address.
Blair Parkes and Cardigan Bay will be supported by Christchurch locals Rickshaw.
