Earlier this I discovered an exciting new face to Toronto’s prog music scene, Parliament Owls, who I connected with after seeing live and happily premiered their debut single back in May. Today they are back with their 3rd and final single “Matterhorn” and a brand new music video before the release of their new self-released album A Span Is All That We Can Boast on September 6th. “Matterhorn” is prime representation of what this band does so well, no-nonsense prog and math-rock leaning post-hardcore along the lines of The Fall of Troy, Eidola or Stolas – but what makes them stand out for me is their notable influence from more “Nordic prog” acts like Agent Fresco and newer Leprous. It’s a fine balance between head-banging youthful technicality and floaty elegance.
“Matterhorn” itself is a song about finding joy among the losses we encounter in order to grow. From the band: “[it’s a] song about trying to give gratitude to the elements of life that are typically sources of pain, such as time seemingly taking things away from us. For the video we wanted to relay another positive and similar message. We wanted the viewer to watch this character who seems very lost and confused find solidarity and happiness once she discovers “herself”. The message we’re trying to convey is that being okay with who you are is great anchoring point for starting to find true happiness and self confidence.”
Parliament Owls does an excellent job of matching this emotional weight through their music, with surging and uplifting instrumentation harmonized with vocalist Devlin’s soaring vocals. The song really climaxes with a powerful guitar solo that fits perfectly into the song and makes me wish more bands in this style weren’t as seemingly afraid to incorporate them.
Stream and check out the new music video for “Matterhorn” below and stay tuned for the album’s full release on September 6th.
You can check out some other tracks on their Bandcamp and follow them on Facebook for more info.