photo by Mrs Agnes Sommer
The hot Mediterranean summer is here, so grab your cold beers and sit down with me to tell you what I discovered just a few days ago! Hailing from the city of Cottbus near Berlin, Para Lia are celebrating the indie/alternative rock sound of the ’90s along with stylistic elements of 80’s dark wave. Their new single “Hawk Hill“ was released earlier on June 14 and it follows hot on the trail of their debut album “Soap Bubble Dreams“, a collection of 10 tracks that released in March 2019. The single includes the title track plus two more songs from that album, and so far so good. I was impressed and a bit shocked by the band’s name which was born of their love for Greece (thank you!), with para lia, (παραλία) meaning “beach” in the Greek language (and now I love you more!). Obviously, the duo from Germany has spent some time in the islands and the shores of the Aegean sea and clearly and apart from the expected suntan, their eyes and their souls disappeared completely into the wider-Mediterraneo-endless-blue. What a thrill was that experience for them, and what a surprise was for me their new single which seemingly overflows directly from an ice cold beer on the beach (“paralia”).
You’ll listen to some pretty serious guitar-driven alternative rock music that is approached by the freshness of the indie-oriented likes and all performed with the optimism of the summer’s grooves. This little record is mostly suited for the beach-anytime as it holds the needed unconcern of the summer, though I repeat; it is a pretty serious listening! I am talking to you fans of the Arctic Monkeys, Arcade Fire, Pixies, Dinosaur Jr, Echo & The Bunnymen, early Editors, all alternative rock indie “professors” with love, much love!
Here is a short story about guests; René Methner was raised in the eastern part of a divided Germany. Learning acoustic guitar from a young age, he finally hooked up with like-minded musicians upon moving to Cottbus for university, forming his first band and moving on to various other bands in the 90’ and ’00s as guitarist, songwriter, and frontman. “Para Lia is the most intimate music project I ever made. It is just everything I was breathing in with regards to music influences in the past few decades and my personal musical development over the years… what I ultimately breathe out is Para Lia. For me, a song is beautiful if it radiates something special. I love good melodies and a loud and crunchy wall of sound, combined with gentle harmonies,“ says René Methner…
…and he continues “After big political changes in early 90’s Germany, many jobs were lost, youth moved out, schools and cultural centers closed, the cash flow stopped and small towns like Falkenberg fell dormant – kind of like a dead end street. You still can smell the fragrance of the past. Both Cindy and I grew up in Falkenberg and even lived on the same street, but we never met back then. We met years later and understood that we’ve walked the same streets and shared the same roots, a great good omen for walking hand in hand into the future.”
Keep Up With Para Lia:
Para Lia photo by Rene Methner
Written by Loud Cities Mike
