Album Review: Varsity Show Everyone Has A Parallel Person
If Kali Uchis and The Shangri-Las went through time to meet each other and form an indie super-pop group, it would be Varsity. Their newest album, Parallel Person, is catchy, cathartic, and laces into your mind like fruit coloring entering water; you watch as what seemed clear about life becomes vibrant and sweeter.
Varsity’s lo-fi, dreamy soundscape makes sense considering their new collection of songs are on uphill battle of isolation, rising popularity, and the relatable frustration of trying to keep creativity alive in your life. Whether you are an artist or just a person that loves art, it is not easy to keep a time and space that is strictly for you to appreciate the fun of creativity. Such a truth persists throughout at Parallel Person, which becomes a title symbolizing how, in many ways, each individual is two personalities paralleling each other.
Often, we hear that everyone has a public and private image. The public being the one you display with acquaintances, followers, and anyone that sees your face without knowing your heart. The private one is the one you carry with the mirror and your closest friends and family. Yet, which one is authentic? Stephanie Smith becomes the lead singer to this duality. Her voice crests through lyrics in “Isolation”, “Alone In My Principles”, and “Settle Down” to make her vocals appear like moonlight dancing through darkness. Each verse battles the sadness and confusion that stems from trying to figure out if being two parallel persons, at once, is okay. Can we be the party girl and shy girl, all at once? Can we be happy and sad?
From “Lied For You” to “Must Be Nice”, Varsity’s music feels like cooled angst; as if their melodies are really a freezer for you light pack away the questions that you will never really answer like, the ones above. Their easy, atmospheric tempos allows you to find a companion in Parallel Person; an album that could truly be played any time. We all need music that simmers and shimmers anxieties into the small barriers they are to what great times we can have. For More Information On Varsity Click Here.
