On their way towards the release of their much-anticipated album ‘In Clash With The Zeitgeist’ (out August 25 via the Berlin label About Us Records), New Model Army-inspired postpunk indie rock outfit Para Lia are back to thrill us with their latest advance single, called ‘C’est La Vie’. While the song’s name is in French, the lyrics are in English and the band’s name is in Greek, Para Lia is actually from Germany. A linguistic enigma 🙂
Para Lia is multi-instrumentalist René Methner and vocalist Cindy Methner – who ignore the zeitgeist of this day to create music that is far from mainstream. This album sees them blend their love for late 80’s and early 90’s indie rock with psychedelic, garage rock, 60’s influences, and early prog rock elements.
“The garage rock of the mid 60’s, which I love, was the inspiration for writing this fast-paced track. The song has the easy structure a garage song needs and a text with a simple message too. Psychalovic with an extra dose of energy!” says René Methner.
“I wanted to make a video which also references the 60’s. And so with a background of dazzling colors in a psychedelic atmosphere (base is a video shot right into the Greek summer sun) the black silhouettes of us perform throughout the video.
Cindy Methner adds, “The video also shows the kind of Metamorphosis that is happening now in the Para Lia cosm – the growth of the band’s format as a duo to a sextet. This is the first time that all 6 musicians of the band are seen together in a video.”
Earlier, the duo released the single ‘Yellow Rose’, a melodic dream-rock composition reflecting reverence of life, and the driving lead single ‘Sunchild’ with its positive energy.
The duo debuted with the ‘Soap Bubble Dreams’ album in 2019, followed by ‘Gone With The Flow’, involving artists from the USA, Canada and the UK, not to mention a collaborative interactive art exhibition with painter Louis Renzoni.
Mastered by Thommy Hein (Die Ärzte, Nina Hagen, Udo Lindenberg) at Tonstudios Berlin and self-recorded and produced at their home studio in Cottbus, Germany, ‘In Clash With The Zeitgeist’ sees Para Lia grow on yet another level with the band expanding from two members to six with an eye towards upcoming live performances.
As of August 3, ‘C’est La Vie’ is available digitally across fine music platforms, including Apple Music, Spotify and Bandcamp. On August 25, ‘In Clash With The Zeitgeist’ will be released on vinyl and digitally.
ALBUM CREDITS
René Methner – guitars, bass guitar, keys, drum programming, vocals
Cindy Methner – vocals
Fady Haddad – synth on ‘Yellow Rose‘
Christian Georgi – e-piano on ‘Yellow Rose‘ and ‘Sunchild (Reprise)’
Andreas Jäpel – vocals on ‘Mr. Perry’
Lyrics and music by René Methner
Recorded and produced by Para Lia
Mixed by Para Lia and Thommy Hein
Mastered by Thommy Hein at The Thommy Hein Tonstudios Berlin
Cover artwork by: Georgia Moschogianni
P&C 2023 Para Lia under exclusive license to About Us Records GmbH
Videos by René Methner
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