Last year, quite a few bands recognized the importance of shaping their albums around their live performance. Blackgaze titans Deafheaven approached their songwriting with this mantra in mind with a more focused and direct album, and the world-renowned jazz ensemble Kokoroko mentioned how important it was for the band and audience to enjoy the music they would be touring internationally for years to come. Regardless, this recontextualization seems significant given the growing technologies at a band’s disposal for studio records. Paerish have also approached their new music within this context, and if “Wait for Dark” is any inclination, they’ve executed it damn well.
The alternative rock band from Paris, France have quite a matured approach to the altgaze and indie rock genres they take influence from, and also pack in the grit that could mark them on the edges of post-hardcore. They’ve even partnered with Will Yip for their more recent offerings, a producer well-known for drawing the full feeling of a band in these genres to showcase the raw performance over production design. It feels like an understatement to say it’s a match made in heaven, but the end result speaks louder than the collaboration itself. I hope I’ve won your interest, because we’ve got a piping hot new single and wonderfully shot music video for Paerish’s “Wait For Dark”, exclusive on Everything Is Noise through SideOneDummy Records.
Singer/guitarist Matthias Court explains:
‘When I was writing these songs, it was such a different feeling from the previous album. That one was more sad and intellectual, because it was written during COVID when we were staying at home. This new one was more free, and many of the songs reminded me of that feeling I had when I was a teenager and my biggest dream was to become a songwriter. So it’s also a tribute to the person that I was back then who really wanted to write songs.’
That youthful energy is channeled and harnessed on “Wait For Dark” but through the lens of a group moving forward and writing their fourth album as a band. The momentum is the first thing you’ll pick up when you hit play, and that near-infinite potential keeps throughout the four and half minute runtime as guitars swirl through the grainy backbone of the drums and bass. The music video was also directed by bassist Martin Dupraz, adding the homegrown flair bands of this scope should always champion. The music video has exceptional color grading, locking in on intimate close-ups that reminisce of Super 8 aesthetics that defined the landscape of retro filmmaking. The makings of the song and video are screams of pure intent and consideration from the band, but the fun is never lost in the presentation either.
Dupraz also explains the thought behind the live approach for the new album, since their previous album doesn’t draw from the audience presence: ‘We want people to jump! Why don’t they jump?! We want people to go crazy, and this is the perfect album for that.’ I can say with certainty the new single does exactly what they set out to and then some. “Wait For Dark” brought out the kid in me who would leap from couches when listening to “Sweetness” by Jimmy Eat World believing this is what it felt like to be on top of the world. Paerish’s new single has the tension and release that makes it all more worthwhile however, with a subdued vocal delivery on the verse allowing the implosion of the chorus to hit harder and with more lasting effect. Trust me, you’ll be moving by the end of this one.
If you’re enjoying the new single and music video, be sure to follow Paerish on all the usual spaces as we wait further details on their next album through SideOneDummy Records. Until then, spin this song a few more times and check out their Bandcamp page for their previous catalogue as well. They can also be found on Instagram and Facebook.
Band photos by Line Férvier
