The Earth Is A Man – Pargon

PARGON DIGITAL - draft 2
Order the tape HERE

The time of Pargon is nigh. Let it enter your zone.

The Earth is a Man’s self-titled debut in 2011 introduced the world to the Chicago quartet’s interlocking guitar leads and rapid fire song structures. A chance collaboration with Tim Heidecker transmuted Bob Dylan’s “All The Tired Horses” into a hallucination of atmospheric drift and vocal hysterics. Now, the band surfaces from a period of hiatus to present two new compositions in the form of the Pargon cassingle. Recorded live in Chicago at Soma Studios and presented without overdubs, Pargon crams enough intricate guitar melodies, agile basslines, and ballistic percussion into its ~9 minute running time to stand on its own as a testament of the band’s sculpted compositions and drum-tight live performances.

When Pargon ends, flip it over and start again.

“Time Snake” blasts off in a surge of major-key six-string ecstasy, as Doug Kaplan (1/3 of drone improv trio Good Willsmith) and Zach Robinson (also known as D/A/D) wind through counterpoint melodies and synchronized phrases. On bass, Max Allison (another 1/3 of Good Willsmith) flits through the guitars’ grid in sympathetic bursts, embellishing harmonies and thundering through low-end runs, as Paul Birhanu’s drum beatdown extends over lightning snare runs and cymbal rushes. When the strings lock together for the song’s extended coda, Birhanu tightens his focus into an octopus-like succession of bruising fills, seizing the spotlight as the dynamic element behind the intensifying mantra riffage. “Imagine Tripling” expands into a breakneck suite of juxtaposed atmospheres, stacking fragile finger-picked interludes and wistful lead melodies against fierce passages in 7/8 time. As the track weaves through a succession of riffs, populating a wide emotional palette with motifs shared across disparate segments, its moments of recursion call us back to solid ground by way of twin tremolo picking, distorted bass mangling, and blastbeats.

Available July 8 on limited edition cassingle (C9). Order a copy at our e-shoppe. Digital release comes bundled with a bonus track: The Earth Is A Man’s cover of Aphex Twin’s “4.”