The Colored Parade is the musical brainchild of Nashville, TN-based songwriter, producer, multi-instrumentalist Andrew Adkins. “I basically locked myself up in my studio with a few guitars, synths, keys, an assortment of percussion, an 808, a banjo, a sampler and a mandolin and this is what happened!” says Adkins. “I wanted to make an album with lots of shades, emotions, colors, and moods constantly moving and shifting. That is where the name ‘Colored Parade’ came from.”
On the 6th of May, The Colored Parade will officially release the 13-track album, “...And The Walls Of The City Will Shake”, of which we had a sumptuous preview.It only took about three minutes and 53 seconds – the length of the first track “Please, Be Kind” – to turn a hardline skeptic into a rug-cutting fool.
The Colored Parade have it nailed down, sharp as a razor and completely punched up to a whole new level of amazing, whether you’re talking musicianship, vocals or songwriting, Andrew Adkins delivers much more than you bargain for at every turn. This is an excellent mix of songs (some dance, some ballads, some blues, some rock, sounds from now, sounds from way back and sounds from tomorrow!) makes this album one of the very best and most original crossover albums I’ve heard in the past year.
Crossover what? Crossover everything! The Colored Parade leave no musical stone unturned. I just hear flushes of influences coming from everywhere; it’s almost too much for the ear to assimilate. “...And The Walls Of The City Will Shake”, is the kind of album where you throw genres and styles right out of the window and just concentrate on the genius and genuine emotion this body of work delivers.
A great album you can listen to from beginning to end. When was the last time you did that? This jumps out of your speakers because it sounds so different. I love the cuts: When The World’s Against Me, I’m Indestructible, Bullets & Arrows, Too Much Out Of Line, Let’s Set Fire To This World and Out Of The Ether. But this album is filled with treasured gems mined from the wasteland of American Popular music.
If you could put Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Prince, Tom Waits, Beck and Arcade Fire into the same room for a weekend, by Monday morning you’d probably have something real close to “...And The Walls Of The City Will Shake”, coming out of the speakers.
Andrew Adkins’ chameleon like tendencies takes his music from electronic sampling to psychedelia and soulful blues-rock, then from lo-fi folk to alternative, rootsy country…sometimes all in the same song.
The tunes are organic in sound and broad in thought and composition. They wash over, envelop, and transport you to a place where genre has all but been forgotten about, where the rays of sound just warm your heart and ignite your soul.
The Colored Parade has delivered a unique sonic experience, with layers of sound and instrumentation. All beautifully put together in a package of moving music. One of a kind!
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