Review: Scarlet Parke — ‘Long Night’
When you’re looking for something to listen to other than Seattle rock, try gravitating towards Scarlet Parke’s new EP, Long Night. A modern twist on a timeless genre, Scarlet uses a variety of vocal and instrumental choices to establish a mark of originality.
Primarily, the record has a very relaxed soulful tone. While the instruments make up most of that vibe, the melodic vocal dynamics that vary throughout Long Night are what make each track its own. Soothing for slower tracks and an upbeat funk for faster ones, Scarlet really understands her voice and connects with the song meanings to produce a personalized sound.
“Sweet Honey” and “Fallin’” are the more lively songs on Long Night. Both do an amazing job at having faster tempos while never losing that distinct overall feeling. If you’re in the mood for something slower, Scarlet delivers that as well. Tracks like “Black Velvet” and “Sleeves” will accommodate to those calm situations. Dulcet instrumental lines and ardent lyrics complement each other, producing truly powerful songs that can adhere to any listener.
Other than the significant feel, Long Night includes many interesting style choices. In addition to the piano and guitar, there are also features of brass instruments and even choir-esque backing vocals. These small inclusions are not experimented with enough in recent times so to have an artist make these small, but audacious music decisions is really entertaining and different.
It’s not difficult to realize that Scarlet Parke is very passionate about the music she creates and being a solo artist unleashes the freedom to evolve however she likes. Scarlet is able to generate an individualistic sound while remaining modern with empathetic lyrics and backing lines woven with hints of jazz. Although fresh on the scene, Long Night has a very professional sound; there are no amateur mistakes revealing that there has been time and care put into making this EP as flawless as possible.
Long Night will be available for sale at Scarlet’s album release party at the Sunset in Ballard on November 19. (Get more show details HERE. You can also find her on Facebook.)
