Goodnight, 2008. You were the shortest year of my life, and another rounded and even-numbered reminder that I have lived for more years than I had ever intended to. Some things happened this year--each toiled over and worried upon to a degree that will certainly seem absurd in 12 month's time, when none of it will really matter anyway.
We made a new album that we thought was pretty good. A few people agreed with us. Most of these people were our friends, however--so I suppose it's best to take that with a grain of salt. We also made our first video, and we're not even embarrassed about it at all:
Parenthetical Girls - A Song For Ellie Greenwich from judesays on Vimeo.
Credit is due largely to Judah, who helped us save face in the nearly always humiliating process of video documentation.
Also, we toured a lot. For us, anyway. We played many places for the first time, including the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Scandinavia, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, and even some of the stranger corners of the United States. We had the pleasure of extended hours with friends new and old, including Deerhoof, Evangelicals, Los Campesinos!, Au, & PWRFL Power. These people are--without a single reservation in my fingers--great and admirable, one and all. For a band as fickle as ours, we've had incredible luck with tour mates.
I'm realizing that this particular digital tree has toppled into a forest of self-indulgence that I'm not especially comfortable with, so I'm going to wrap this up. But before I go, one more indulgence: I did this thing the other day. Maybe you're bored.
Let's hope for a better year.
Cordially,
Zac Pennington
(((GRRRLS)))
The previous entry: A Song For Ellie Greenwich.
The next entry: Pow. Pow. Pow.
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If it makes you feel any better, Entanglements was easily my personal number one album of the year, beating out even friends/former band members/old tourmates like the Dead Science, Xiu Xiu, Deerhoof, and Los Campesinos!.
That probably doesn't make you feel better, but I like to attempt some philogyny when possible, since I very much like it when other bands do.
(which, we can only hope, is a project still underway)
Posted by: Peter Van Brunt at January 3, 2009 11:32 AMHi, Parenthetical Girls, i think that Entanglements is the best album of 2008, over another albums of the 2008. And sincerely, you're my favorite band forever. You're so awesome, and i want (and if you want too), and i hope so much that the next album will be beautiful as Entanglements (with orchestral arrangements). I hope too, that you don't split never, and you don't lost this beautiful essence with violins, glockenspiels, and horns, Goodbye.
i adore you.
xx
Hi, Parenthetical Girls, i think that Entanglements is the best album of 2008, over another albums of the 2008. And sincerely, you're my favorite band forever. You're so awesome, and i want (and if you want too), and i hope so much that the next album will be beautiful as Entanglements (with orchestral arrangements). I hope too, that you don't split never, and you don't lost this beautiful essence with violins, glockenspiels, and horns, Goodbye.
i adore you.
xx
good luck
Posted by: iw at January 11, 2009 09:30 PMCongrats!
Posted by: Jeremy at January 12, 2009 11:55 AM"Entanglements" was easily my number one album of the year, for reasons too extensive and exhaustive to indulge in a short internet comment. In my mind, it was the most ambitious, intellectually stimulating record released in 2008, one worthy of a lot more dissection and discussion than it seemed to garner. It's always exciting to see your favorite bands challenging themselves, rather than getting comfortable, and I think you guys really banked on those obviously high standards with the record.
Also, *finally* seeing you guys perform last year in Denver was most certainly one of the highlights of a mainly blah year for me, despite the fact that most everyone at the Hi-Dive was just hanging out at the bar, (though Zac easily brought the show to them!) Thanks for being so sweet to us after the show, Zac, it meant a lot, and it was very nice to finally meet you.
I wish all of you the best 2009 possible! Thanks for everything.
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