{"id":4086,"date":"2018-11-15T00:23:14","date_gmt":"2018-11-15T00:23:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carriagehousemusic.com\/?p=4086"},"modified":"2018-12-05T06:21:15","modified_gmt":"2018-12-05T06:21:15","slug":"parlor-walls-wants-you-to-feel-something","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carriagehousemusic.com\/440magazine\/2018\/11\/15\/parlor-walls-wants-you-to-feel-something\/","title":{"rendered":"Parlor Walls Wants You to Feel Something"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Carly Bush<\/em><\/p>\n

In Ray Bradbury\u2019s novel\u00a0Fahrenheit 451<\/i>, parlor walls are expansive television screens that cover the surface of an entire wall. In the dystopian story, they serve as a metaphor for society\u2019s collective isolation.<\/span><\/p>\n

When the novel was written, in 1953, Bradbury could not have possibly foreseen the relevance this term would have upon our current society, the world in which the band Parlor Walls, named in reference to vocalist Alyse Lamb\u2019s favorite novel, came into being.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to multi-instrumentalist Chris Mulligan, who supplies drums and keys in Parlor Walls, the name is an intentionally subversive callout: \u201cWe\u2019re all empty, disconnected screen zombies who never fully experience what is around us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Parlor Walls is a millennial band advocating for their parents\u2019 style of revolution. They formed in 2013, when Mulligan, formerly of Delaware, met Lamb, born and raised in a small town in Connecticut, after a show in Brooklyn at one particularly iconic venue. Both had recently made the move to New York, and were playing in separate bands.<\/p>\n

Lamb recalls that they were very much aware of one another\u2019s presence in the local scene and often played shows together, but didn\u2019t realize how well they could mesh creatively until one fateful night: \u201cWe were hanging out after a show at Shea Stadium and we were admiring each other\u2019s outfits. Then we found out we both loved Fugazi and all hell broke loose.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mulligan was drawn to Lamb\u2019s aesthetic, and vice versa, but he was quickly able to look beyond the superficial. \u201cI think we were both intrigued by each other\u2019s style. I could envision the beast that would show its face if we ever collaborated.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

From the very beginning, neither wished to make music that would simply provide vapid entertainment. They share a compulsive need to shake things up. In a world of white noise, Parlor Walls aspire to be agitators. And they seem to be succeeding at it.<\/span><\/p>\n

They take cues from genres like ambient and new wave, but don\u2019t seem too keen on labels. The goal of Parlor Walls is straightforward: to disrupt the silence.<\/span><\/p>\n

As a woman in rock, Lamb is not likely to cower in the face of any sort of prejudice, although she acknowledges it is an occasional obstacle in her circles. She handles it with grace: \u201cThere is no room for misogyny in my world. If and when I encounter it, I call it out and strike up a conversation about it. Sometimes this doesn\u2019t work and sometimes it\u2019s fruitful, but I will always make every effort possible.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2016, Parlor Walls put on a gritty yet deeply intimate show for Sofar NYC. The video footage showcases Lamb and Mulligan at their best: aggressive, yet soft, and uniquely capable of turning protest into poetry.<\/span><\/p>\n

Leaving such an experience is likely to feel inspired one way or another, whether they realize it or not; Lamb and Mulligan do not speak of their \u201cfans,\u201d or even \u201clisteners,\u201d but instead simply state that they hope their audience will always be full of \u201cpeople not afraid to lose themselves in the music. Open and free.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

To rouse people from the heady addiction of technology, even at a live concert, is an increasingly difficult feat. Mulligan believes music has the power to break through to the inner rebel within us all. \u201cThe most powerful shows I\u2019ve seen shake me from this haze. Suddenly, I\u2019m hyper-aware I\u2019m an insignificant fragile baby flying through space. It\u2019s terrifying, but it opens me up to laugh at the absurdity of it all.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

It is with a certain violent, spitfire earnestness that Mulligan describes his ideal audience: \u201cA hundred people in a warehouse who had a rough day and just want to let go. It\u2019d be great if our music helped people shed their fear and celebrate the void. At the very least, it\u2019d be cool if someone saw us and bobbed their head a little bit and smashed a bottle on their way home.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

If Parlor Walls takes you back to the \u201880s in an eerily visceral way, it\u2019s likely due to Lamb\u2019s uncanny memory (she\u2019s also professionally trained in composition and encouraged Mulligan to learn several instruments). When speaking to her, you get the sense that she\u2019s a bit displaced herself, generationally. But more than that, she\u2019s able to call to mind the sensory requirements to cultivate a truly timeless listening experience.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a pretty nostalgic person,\u201d she remarks, not certain if her keen memory is a blessing or a cure. \u201cI can still remember the way I felt when I first heard Janet Jackson on my older sister\u2019s stereo\u2014I was bursting at the seams. Or when I heard Depeche Mode blaring from my brother\u2019s room\u2014it was dark, hypnotic, and so intriguing to me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Watching P.J. Harvey in the \u201cMan-Size\u201d music video stands out as a particularly vivid memory in her mind, as does the smell of her first cassette tape. \u201cMusic was my life from a very young age, and I cherish these first memories of discovering vibrant, kinetic, and provocative music. I want to be forever excited about music. So, I strive to create art that conveys these emotions. I want people to feel something.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Is it purely nostalgia that inspired Parlor Walls to sell their recent EP,\u00a0EXO<\/i>, as a limited edition cassette tape? Not entirely. Though the novelty certainly makes it interesting, Mulligan also appreciates the sound quality.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes I hear an older recording and it sounds so warm,\u201d he says. \u201cI also love the digital plastic sound a lot of forward-thinking artists are pushing today. I don\u2019t think we are unique in wanting to figure out interesting ways to combine the two.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The writing process of the band\u2019s EP,\u00a0EXO<\/i>, involved a \u201cconstant push and pull\u201d of ideas. \u201cThere are always creative differences, but I think they are expected.\u201d Like any great songwriting partnership, the two find themselves clashing\u2014more often than not. But they\u2019ve figured out a way to make it work. \u201cWe have vastly different ideas a lot of the time and bash our heads until we arrive at the center.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n