Breton Parks

Alright, before we get into this, what in the actual fuck is a Cloven Ip? According to Breton Parks, the man behind all of this, the album title pretty much reflects how the album was recorded: he sat down, recorded, improv’d, cut it into pieces and threw it together (“cloven” means splitting or division, “ips” stands for “inches per second” like on a recording reel). I have to admit, usually doing something like that leaves kind of a hollow product (in my case, anyway), but I have to say that I’m overall satisfied by The Cloven Ips.


I gotta admit, at first track “Bring Me Along” had me worried (I’m not too huge on the intro), but once it hit the chorus I liked it. The one major problem I have with the album is the dissonance that I feel is on every track. Parks not only sings, but he layers his vocals a couple times. People who aren’t a fan of that might not be a huge fan of the album because Parks pretty much layers his vocals as much as he can, which isn’t really a bad thing, just something I noticed.

I love that I get a home recorded feel from this album, but it’s not in my face. The production is very well done, but still maintains a certain “do it yourself” kind of vibe from me. I love how each track feels different from the last, but all of the tracks on the album feel connected. I think a track to show pretty much everything I enjoy about this album would have to be “Nerve”. I love the jangly guitar, the catchy chorus and just the overall feel of it. The guitar tone goes well with what Parks is trying to accomplish. “Bring Me Along” has a great wall of vocals singing, “Yeah right!,” which then stops and goes into a cascading guitar riff before picking up again. It’s a nice little jolt to the listener. The intro to “Good Syntax” sounds like something pulled out of the mid-90's, but it quickly evolves into a more indie rock feel.

I could seriously keep pulling tracks from the album and explaining why I like them, but I’ll stop after “Similar Nature”: I love how the chorus feels dark and foreboding, and the main riff reminds me pretty heavily of Sonic Youth’s “Teenage Riot” (but not in a way that the riff feels stolen or anything, it’s just kind of something I was reminded off). Overall, though, if I had to sum up my favorite part of the album, I’d say that through the production, the wall of voices, and the guitar tones, the album kind of sounds like someone going insane very slowly. “Similar Nature”‘s eerie chorus is what did it for me, but songs like “Bring Me Along” and “Figure It Out On My Own” also helped along the way.

Overall, there’s not really much I dislike about the album. The only song I don’t really have an affinity for is the longest one: “Everything You Got”. I feel like while it builds well, it just doesn’t have a satisfying payoff at the end. It builds and builds and the release isn’t really that good; however, long songs like that can be kind of tricky and it’s more of a “Will it work?” kind of situation. But overall, I really like the album. The rattling guitar has a certain charm to it and the songs have great hooks that can get stuck in your head for days. So just sit back, relax, and let the wall of voices tell you that you’re just fine.

Check Out: “Nerve”, “Bring Me Along” - James Warfield

Breton Parks has been roaming the streets of Littleton Colorado since he could walk, but he’s been passing his music around since June of last year (2011) when he put out his first album “Whelk”. The time between those two events, maybe the most important in a musicians life, is a lot shorter than the distance Park’s influences have had to cover in their own lives.
The songwriting biases on “Whelk” were clear and many code words could be used to describe Parks’ music but the easiest would be late 80s/90s. This album bleeds with the sounds that made that era of music nothing short of an obsession for me, there might even be an influence from my favorite band of all time, Husker Du.

Park’s has made it clear that he’s a 90s kid, whether you take that to mean that he was born in the 90s or born to grow up in the 90s, he has clear right to stake his ground there. Riding the loud and soft dynamics of the Pixies, singing in a falsetto pulled straight from J Mascis’ mouth, production that could have been from any Lou Barlow project, and Replacements-esque riffs this album is just a smoothie of 90s roots. Anything that could’ve been called punk in the 80s, but was also the reason grunge and alternative rock rose to fame in the 90s, is what influences this album. Which, like I said, that’s a soft spot for me so as a fan of his influences; I’m also a fan of this album.

When I put an album like Pile’s “Dripping” as 35 on my top 50 albums of 2012 list, it makes it clear that it’s hard for me not to like something like this; I mean shit, Bob Mould was my #1. The point of all of this being, that Parks doesn’t exactly put a new spin on this sound. This is an extremely solid listen all the way through, and it’s worth mentioning that Parks is more mature as well; the production is better, the lyrics are focused away from his age, and the songwriting at its catchiest. Compared to his first album this is a vast improvement. None of that changes the fact that this album shines more light on music that’s already been created than itself as a new album, though that may have been the intention.

“Bring Me Along” opens this album like any Dinosaur Jr. album would; most of the attitude starts here as well as the sound you can expect through the whole album. When I first heard the single “Figure it Out On My Own”, I was bored but it’s so much more enjoyable as the second track on this album. Some more recognizable personality comes out on “Good Syntax” which is more or less the first ballad on the track list. That personality comes out even stronger on the track “Kingdom” which pulls the pop song writing of the 90s to such a height that it sounds like surf rock; it actually reminds me a lot of Chalk Dinosaur (a band I discovered on my old music blog). “Everything You Got” and “Similar Nature” are both songs that are impossible to get until you listen to each of them climax. “Almost” is Jay Reatard-esque, separating both of those songs so the album doesn’t break momentum, which would have worked if “You Are, What You Know” didn’t seem like such a weak closer.

This album took a leap that made it a lot more enjoyable than Park’s last and what came with that, was my enjoyment. Song by song this album gives me no reason to want to cut out of the track list early, which I’ve done over and over again. I have no doubts that someone who is a fan of most of the bands I’ve compared this to, will also enjoy this record a lot. The only thing I’m left waiting for is a more developed Breton Parks, something more definable. I feel like the opener, “Kingdom”, “Good Syntax”, “Everything you Got”, and “Similar Nature” are signs that Park’s is coming into his own; but I’m still waiting for him to hit me with something that’s only him. This project shows up with ideas that make me want to keep following the albums he makes, and I will without fail as long as they’re as good as this!

-Austin Lovelace - The Redheaded Zombie Show - Austin Lovelace