Kelly Kirwan
Disco isn’t dead. She’s just let her perm fall, braided flowers into her hair, and hitched a ride north to the countryside, adopting a Mother Earth persona that still has a few sequins on her dress. And her influence lingers, having evolved into a sedated “campfire disco” that has a downtempo shimmer and growing roots in folk—a blend that’s both bohemian and has the glossy finish of indie pop. It’s a recipe that The Parlor has mastered.
Settled in upstate New York, partners in both music and life, Eric Krans and Jen O’Connor have released a video for "Wishes in the Sheets." The whispering vocals unfold in gentle waves, and the breathy chorus seems built to induce your latest daytime reverie. Plucked guitar strings are a staple of the track, their twang moving with a deft and disarmingly fast pace for a song that so quickly creates a half-hypnotized state.
The video itself features the two musicians—and great loves—through a black-and-white lens, instantly instilling an air of nostalgia. The visuals switch between the two lying together, then alone, before superimposed videos create a film within a film. Montages of the two intertwined, fingers laced, reach the forefront, as their bodies are fitted to one another on a mattress in the partially-obscured background.
Towards the end, the camera pans over delicate flowers, which are then shown in full color—a sense of thawing or renewal slowly dawning on us. Entwined in their song is both an effervescence and a fragility: “Our Day in the Sun / Something went wrong the bleeding begun / We played our songs / But they must not be the right ones,” the two sing, and we’re reminded of the wispy foundations wishes can build. But if The Parlor keeps on playing, we won’t give in to giving up just yet.