On August 28th, 2015, Monk Parker releases his debut solo record on the Bronze Rat label (London/Berlin). How The Spark Loves The Tinder was written during the breakup of Parker’s band The Low Lows & his relocation from New York City back home to Texas. There, over the following three years, hundreds of hours of music were recorded with over 30 musicians (including members of Okkervil River and The Polyphonic Spree), largely in the welding shed of the family farm outside Austin.
Here Parker serves up a funereal but majestic altAmericana, in which stately, dreamlike waltzes build to explosive, gospeltinged climaxes. Revolving around a slew of steel guitars, vintage organs and brass, the intricately orchestrated songs evoke Stax/Volt balladry and a woozy Phosphorescent-style country narcosis. Alternating with a cacophony of buried noise melodies, this is the bed on which his damning, redemptive stories of carnality & affection lie (“Sadly yes I know just where to go, where to go / Sadly yes we can all three see the bright writing on the marquee,” goes the first line on the record, from a song about a love triangle gone
inexplicably right).
inexplicably right).
TOUR DATES:
6/26 FLICKER BAR – ATHENS, GA
6/27 DRUNKEN UNICORN – ATLANTA, GA
6/28 RESERVATION PUB – KNOXVILLE, TN
6/29 LOCAL 506 – CHAPEL HILL, NC
7/1 UNION HALL – NEW YORK, NY
7/2 KUNG FU NECKTIE – PHILADELPHIA, PA
7/5 CHURCH OF BOSTON – BOSTON, MA
7/8 LAGER HOUSE – DETROIT, MI
7/9 EMPTY BOTTLE – CHICAGO, IL
7/11 FOAM – ST LOUIS, MO
7/12 THE MILL – IOWA CITY, IA
8/14 CHEER UP CHARLIE’S – AUSTIN, TX
8/27 VALLEY BAR – PHOENIX, AZ
9/4 THE BARTLETT – SPOKANE, WA
9/5 BUNK BAR – PORTLAND, OR
6/27 DRUNKEN UNICORN – ATLANTA, GA
6/28 RESERVATION PUB – KNOXVILLE, TN
6/29 LOCAL 506 – CHAPEL HILL, NC
7/1 UNION HALL – NEW YORK, NY
7/2 KUNG FU NECKTIE – PHILADELPHIA, PA
7/5 CHURCH OF BOSTON – BOSTON, MA
7/8 LAGER HOUSE – DETROIT, MI
7/9 EMPTY BOTTLE – CHICAGO, IL
7/11 FOAM – ST LOUIS, MO
7/12 THE MILL – IOWA CITY, IA
8/14 CHEER UP CHARLIE’S – AUSTIN, TX
8/27 VALLEY BAR – PHOENIX, AZ
9/4 THE BARTLETT – SPOKANE, WA
9/5 BUNK BAR – PORTLAND, OR
Monk Parker
How The Spark Loves The Tinder
(Bronze Rat)
Street Date: Aug. 28, 2015
How The Spark Loves The Tinder
(Bronze Rat)
Street Date: Aug. 28, 2015
Sadly Yes
I Am a Gun
The Happy Hours
Wanna Be Forgotten
Idle in Idlewild
Black Bees
Raining in Eva
The Great Fires
MONK PARKER LINKS: