Blair Parkes Drops Fuzzed-Out Single 'Heavy Lifting'

New Brighton via Christchurch songwriter Blair Parkes has certainly paid his sonic dues, lending his talents to early Flying Nun Records groups All Fall Down and The Letter 5, as well as more recent outfits The L.E.D.s, Condensations, and Cardigan Bay. He's now unveiled 'Heavy Lifting', the fuzzed-out lead single from his upcoming latest solo collection Always Running. Recorded with friends Ryan Chin (drums) and Miss Mercury (backing vocals), the snappy number deploys a wash of shoegaze guitars over a muscular rhythmic backbone and doo-wop vocals - clocking in at less than three minutes it offers a tantalising glimpse of what's to come. We had to know more, fortunately Parkes was at hand to lift the lid on his new song, read his words and listen to 'Heavy Lifting' below...

"'Heavy Lifting' was recorded in my shed at the back of my garage in December last year. Ryan recorded the drums at his house in St. Martins a few months later, and Helen braved a nasty frost a couple of weeks ago to add some ooh wahs vocals. It turned out better than I thought it would!

'Heavy Lifting' is from  'Always Running', the first of two finished albums I hope to put out this year. Both albums feature Ryan's drumming and are both quite different. ‘Always Running’ has a lot of synths and is high tempo. The other one is a acoustic-based pop and features both Ryan and Luke from our band ‘Cardigan Bay’.

I’ve been putting music out since the mid eighties. My background includes the L.E.D.s, Range, environmental sound art as Condensations, and early Flying Nun guitar bands All Fall Down’ and The Letter 5.

When I’m not making music I’m a visual artist and home dad."