We Are Parasols Premiere Their Multifaceted New Album ‘Body Horror’

It has been a long road for We Are Parasols to get to the release of their brand new album, Body Horror. Like a book with many chapters, all leading towards a culmination, this record proceeded through many phases, with a new approach taken towards songwriting and a new collective spirit driving the band.

Set for release tomorrow, July 7th, via No Movement Records, the creative process for Body Horror extends back about four years. The prolonged chaos and uncertainty born out of the global pandemic prompted band founder and leader Jeremy Wilkins to rethink his approach to his work, and the end result is a multi-dimensional group of songs that really succeed in emphasizing Wilkins’ and his bandmates’ creative, original approach to songwriting.

Elaborating on the extended evolution of this record, Wilkins comments:

“When we started writing demos for Body Horror, the album was a concept based on films and novels that we love. Like much of our earlier records it was to be about fictional characters and philosophical ideas. The first draft was intellectual and a little cold. The industrial sort of core of the tracks is probably all that is left of that original vision. As 2020 came and went, with all the anxiety and introspection it inspired, we found ourselves overhauling the entire album, rewriting all the lyrics, letting our more pop influences flow, and, in some ways, revising our concept of We Are Parasols as a whole.

“The final album is deeply personal and its honesty is raw. It’s still about body horror as a concept but turned inward, exposing ourselves and our struggles with being. Musically, each of the three of us contribute equally to Body Horror, making it a definitive expression of who we are both as a group and as individual musicians.”

Partially as a result of the pandemic-related restrictions, Body Horror was primarily written bi-coastal through a process of file sharing. Unlike previous releases, this one was pieced together like a puzzle with a thousand pieces, with each member of the trio creating their own ideas and then sharing them with the other two members to build off of.

Wilkins and singer/synth player D. Wood were located in Portland, while Alec Yeager was working out of Atlanta. Whether it was a loop, a melody, or maybe just a sound, they’d record it, share the file, and see where it would take them. At times the process had its share of frustrations, but it ultimately did the job and delivered a very solid release. It marks an important evolution for We Are Parasols as a musical entity, a sort of test of their will and their perseverance, which will only serve to benefit them in the long run.

Tour Dates:

07/09 – Portland, OR Holocene
07/22 – Astoria, WA Labor Temple Bar
08/03 – Portland, PR The Six
10/21 – Astoria, WA Labor Temple Bar

We Are Parasols ‘Body Horror’ album artwork