The Child of the Parish story starts in Glastonbury, when brothers Ben and Tom Vella vowed to start a kaleidoscopic new project which united euphoric disco, hazy psychedelia and live band energy to create a life-affirming melting pot of sounds. After releasing two EPs which flamed fascination in the project at media (Radio 1 support from Jack Saunders and Sian Eleri, airplay at BBC Introducing and 6 Music, plus abundant acclaim), the Child of the Parish journey today arrives at its first landmark moment with the release of their debut album ‘Sweet Surrender’.
‘Sweet Surrender’ is a soundtrack that will help people dance their way out of the dark. It’s an album that poses those existential questions that come to mind at 3am on a long, sleepless night: time, memory, love, relationships and regrets. But the music channels those thoughts into an escapist, joyous explosion of influences such as M83, Daft Punk, Empire of the Sun, Patrick Cowley and New Order melding glitchy, electronic sounds with more organic elements of indie, disco and funk. In short: Child of the Parish alchemise bliss from anxious overthinking.
Tom says, “It’s odd how ‘Sweet Surrender’ came together, because it started out as more of a mixtape. There were a few songs we really loved but ended up sitting on because we thought we should have a bigger body of work to put out. Then it was a case of waiting for the right time.”
After previewing the album with four consistently compelling singles – ‘Swim With The Tide’, ‘Always The Fool’, ‘Local Bragging Rights’ and ‘Good For Nothing’ – the duo launch the album alongside its focus track and opening song ‘For Your Love’. It’s the moment that best epitomises the album’s cinematic sense of drama. Opening with synthesised birdsong and swirling strings, it’s a step apart from the duo’s hazy, disco-tinged psychedelia. Their consistent ingenuity, however, unlocks a tougher-edged, sweetly sinister sound with crashing organ, grinding guitars, leaning into an electro/alt-rock hybrid.
Child of the Parish also today share a live video of ‘For You Love’, which was filmed at MOTH Club. It proves that such intricately produced music, full of precise, imaginative details that emerge on repeat listens and via earphones, really pops in the live arena. Future Child of The Parish gigs will be an electrifying experience.
‘Sweet Surrender’ possesses a liberated feel which comes from the duo’s creative freedom. They realised that focusing on writing a hit was a dead-end – after all, their biggest tracks have all been the ones that have emerged naturally and wildly without any over analysis. They also opened their mind to different styles, leading to a record with the playfulness and eclecticism of a mixtape, but with the cohesiveness and craft of an album project. They also produced the record themselves, calling on mixer and engineer Shuta Shinoda (Hot Chip, Spiritualised, Ghostpoet) for support.
Beyond the singles, ‘Sweet Surrender’ uncovers countless fresh highlights, from the maximalist optimism of ‘Lift Your Head’ to the spacious, slow-building beauty and celestial vocal harmonies of ‘Floodplain’ via the strident, ’80s-tinged synth-pop of the title track and the hallucinatory disco-house pulse of ‘Our Time Has Come’.
It’s a record of contrasts: sadness versus euphoria, electronica melded with live instrumentation, reflections on the past viewed via music made for the present. Let ‘Sweet Surrender’ guide you into the light.
The album tracklist is:
1. ‘For Your Love’
2. ‘Lift Your Head Up’
3. ‘Relics’
4. ‘Always The Fool’
5. ‘Local Bragging Rights’
6. ‘Good For Nothing’
7. ‘Our Time Has Come’
8. ‘Swim With The Tide’
9. ‘Sweet Surrender’
10. ‘Think Straight Intro’
11. ‘Think Straight’
12. ‘Floodplain Intro’
13. ‘Floodplain’
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