Pulsating beats flash by on metronomic beats as Late Girl intones the mesmeric “a building is a weapon”. The music surging to an epiphany of glorious noise. Welcome to the new Parastatic album. Seemingly ages in the making, the band may hail from Newcastle yet their sound is borne of the autobahns of Europe. A distinct futurism, based in the now, with emotional grace coupled into a throbbing desolate joy.
Modernism, or dancing to a Modernist beat, as the second song urges. A backdrop of glistening guitars submerged in a post-rock hinterland. Majestic, surging, all brought to an abrupt reality as Late Girl weaves a tapestry of slogans, each portraying an undercurrent of Western decline. Seeking to “tear it down”, a demolition of a democracy that has failed.
Where there is brutalism, there is beauty though, with the gorgeous ‘Assembly’ bringing respite for a short while. It’s a moment of clarity on an album very much submerged in politicism. As it reaches its tremendous climax, you feel like you are surging up over a lost Europe. Search deep within the rundown historic buildings, and parliaments of old and there are glimpses of a life where we can all be as one in togetherness. A social utopia born out of the current dystopia.
‘With Intent’ is a paean to functioning within a rage filled society, whilst ‘Concrete Reborn’ finds a solace in community and humanity. The word “functioning” becoming a defining reality of everyday existence. We all, in our own ways, find the means to continue to function. Mostly out of necessity but also out of a perceived wisdom that by “functioning” together, society can exist in balance. The concrete buildings, once a weapon, now become our cocoon.
Parastatic are riding the crest of a wave of fantastic creativity with new album Concrete Reborn, and have laid out a claim for one of the albums of 2025. It’s a late night drive into the hinterlands of sci-fi dystopia, grounded in a brutalist society. It’s also a fucking blast.
