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Parenthetical Girls

 
Artist: Parenthetical Girls
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Parenthetical Girls

Group Members:

Zac Pennington, Jeremy Cooper, Sam Mickens, Jherek Bischoff

Similar Artists:

YACHT, Wild Beasts, Treepeople, Ribbons, Mirah, The Microphones, Xiu Xiu, The Fiery Furnaces

Influenced By:

Folk Implosion, Calvin Johnson, The Helio Sequence

Formal Connection With:

The Dead Science
  • Formed: 2002, Everett, WA
  • Genres: Rock
  • Representative Albums: "Entanglements", "Parenthetical Girls

Biography

A group that has cautiously moved from the bedroom recording studio to the stage, Parenthetical Girls began as an amateur recording project by two longtime friends, rock writer Zac Pennington and part-time musician Jeremy Cooper. Indulging in a shared fondness for British post-punk, Brian Eno, and Phil Spector, the two began creating eccentric but playful indie rock tunes in 2002 on a lo-fi eight-track recording setup dominated by glockenspiel, a cheap synthesizer, and a guitar that refused to stay in tune. Calling their collaboration "Swastika Girls" (after a tune from Brian Eno and Robert Fripp's No Pussyfooting), Cooper and Pennington were initially unimpressed with their results and set the tapes aside until Pennington gave some of the material another listen in 2003 and decided to resurrect the project. Pennington handed the original session tapes over to two different musicians he knew and admired -- Jherek Bischoff of the Dead Science and Jamie Stewart of Xiu Xiu -- and asked each to mix the seven selections he'd unearthed. Cooper and Pennington were impressed enough with the results that they decided to release an album of the material; embracing the less-controversial handle Parenthetical Girls, their self-titled debut featured Bischoff's mixes on the "X" side of a vinyl LP, with Stewart's versions appearing in the same sequence on the other "O" side. A brief tour followed, with Cooper staying home and Pennington joined by Bischoff and Sam Mickens, also of the Dead Science, followed by another road trip featuring Pennington and Mickens. By the time the debut album was reissued on CD in 2006, Cooper had dropped out of active service within the Parenthetical Girls, and the second album from the "group," Safe as Houses, was primarily created by Pennington and Bischoff, and released in mid-2006. The group's lineup finally solidified around Pennington and multi-instrumentalists Matt Carlson, Eddy Crichton, and Rachael Jensen, with Bischoff continuing as a studio collaborator. This version of the group collaborated with 25 classically trained musicians on Parenthetical Girls' third album Entanglements, which took their music in an ambitious, orchestral direction. Tomlab released Entanglements in 2008. ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide
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Wikipedia: Parenthetical Girls
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Parenthetical Girls
Also known as The Swastika Girls
Origin Everett, Washington, United States
Genres Baroque pop
Experimental music
Years active 2003–present
Labels Slender Means Society, Acuarela Discos, Tomlab
Associated acts The Dead Science, Casiotone for the Painfully Alone
Members
Matt Carlson
Eddy Crichton
Rachael Jensen
Zac Pennington
Former members
Jeremy Cooper (2003-2004)
Sam Mickens (2004-2006)
Jherek Bischoff (2004-2006)
Owen Ashworth (2005)

Parenthetical Girls (formerly The Swastika Girls) is an experimental pop band formed in Everett, Washington, and based currently in Portland, Oregon.

Begun primarily as a recording project, the current touring version of the band consists of vocalist Zac Pennington, Rachael Jensen, Eddy Crichton and Matt Carlson, all sharing a variety of instrumental duties. Former touring members Jherek Bischoff and Sam Mickens (also of the band The Dead Science) continue to contribute to the group's recorded output.

Their music is notable for its combination of saccharine pop and experimental elements, and has been compared with such disparate acts as Brian Eno, T. Rex, Dirty Projectors, Philip Glass, Xiu Xiu, and Phil Spector (Bowers, 2006; Unterberger, 2006).

Originally taking their name from the Brian Eno composition "Swastika Girls", original members Zac Pennington and Jeremy Cooper self-released their limited run debut EP Christmas With Swastika Girls in 2002. Following Cooper's departure and a name change, Pennington released (((GRRRLS))), the band's vinyl-only debut album on his own Slender Means Society label in 2004. Recorded with the help of Jherek Bischoff and Jamie Stewart (of Xiu Xiu fame), (((GRRRLS))) features a total of seven songs repeated on both sides of the vinyl record, each side featuring the respective mixes of Stewart and Bischoff. This was followed by the digital-only self-release of their second Christmas-themed EP Christmas with Parenthetical Girls that same year, as well as their second album Safe as Houses (released by Slender Means Society in the United States and Acuarela Discos throughout Europe), the expanded CD reissue of the (((GRRRLS))) album, and a third self-released Christmas EP A Parenthetical Girls Family Christmas in 2006. A split 7-inch with the band The Dead Science was released by Obsolete Vernacular in 2007.

Contents

Discography

Albums

Singles and EPs

  • 2002 Christmas with Swastika Girls (as Swastika Girls)
  • 2004 Christmas with Parenthetical Girls
  • 2006 Twenty Bees 7"
  • 2006 A Parenthetical Girls Family Christmas
  • 2007 Parenthetical Girls/Dead Science 7"
  • 2007 Addendum (Safe as Houses European bonus EP)
  • 2008 A David Horvitz Picture Disc with Parenthetical Girls
  • 2008 A Song for Ellie Greenwich
  • 2009 Morrissey/The Smiths 7" split (with Xiu Xiu)
  • 2009 The Scottish Play: Wherein the Group Parenthetical Girls Pay Well-intentioned (If Occasionally Misguided) Tribute to the Works of Ivor Cutler
  • 2009 "The Christmas Creep" - "Thank God It's Not Christmas" b/w "Flowers of Albion"

References

External links


This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

 

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Artist. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Music Guide ®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
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