Entanglements

Although I'd like to write my own reviews, frequently I find a comment that describes the music so perfectly that I can't add anything more beyond a lame comment such as "listen to this!"

"Their third album and first for Tomlab is an eleven song linear narrative of moral ambiguities, set to an elaborately orchestrated olio of modern classical and timeworn, traditional American pop forms. They borrow from the string swept sentimentality of Van Dyke Parks, Scott Walker, Jack Nitzsche, and Burt Bacharach, then introduce the influence of more formidable strains of modern classical composers such as Krzysztof Penderecki, Philip Glass, and Gavin Bryars. The result is a confluence of cerebral and sentimental disparities; sensually unsettling. Orchestral pop, crooned and cooed in falsetto.

"Ne'er hast these ears heard such a grand scale pop symphony dedicated to a most unholy, sex fueled fable concerning a 25 year old man and 14 year old girl! The ornamental, Victorian-era language matches "Thee's" and "Wherefore's" against numerous references to the teenager's sacred legs dividing. And we get her point of view as well - "His legs gave way like pages from a pop-up book....And I had to look!" Cue ragtime tuba.

While thinking about this semi-Lolita relationship makes one want to shower, listening to the instrumentation is a whole different ballgame. This is Top-Shelf swooning orchestal pop bursting with woodwind, string, brass and percussive mastery. The record draws from both classical masters of old and Philip Glass like minimalist composition without ever losing pop accessibility. Even the album's title is a fine double-entendre, ENTANGLEMENTS referring to the taboo relationship of the characters as well as the vast, complex arrangements. The symphonic movements themselves cleverly represent doing the deed - "A swell of strings sing 'neath the pleats of my dress" -- Amazon reviewer

Parenthetical Girls: Entanglements (2008)

01 Four Words
02 Avenue Of Trees
03 Unmentionables
04 Gut Symmetries
05 A Song For Ellie Greenwich
06 Young Eucharists
07 Entanglement
08 Abandoning
09 The Former
10 Windmills Of Your Mind
11 This Regrettable End