Polyvinyl US Vinyl & CDs

Review: Portland, Oregon electro-indie beauties Strfkr return with their first album in almost half a decade, following on from their couplet of projects unveiled in 2020. While their home-recorded shoegazing Future Past Life exuded some of their most ethereal and experimental material to date, Ambient 1 would arrive later in the year and provide a fully instrumental nod to the likes of Tangerine Dream and Kraftwerk with its slow building synth lines and retro New Age prog meanderings. Having got all of that artistic experimentation out of the way, and returned to the studio to craft a work full certain to enjoy a touring cycle, Parallel Realms reverts, pivots and dances its way toward a newfound place of Balearic-tinged, disco-laden synth-pop; offering on their eighth full-length LP, a more succinct, direct and instantaneous formula than ever previously proverbed.