Photo Credit: McKenna Chatterley
The National Parks released their fourth independent full length, Wildflower, back in June. The release was followed up with a covid-style succesful socially distant tour. The album itself has received rave reviews from both fans and press. As the album taps into the harsh realities of growth and hard times and faith, Wildflower is an album that is very needed at a time like this. The band’s soulful blend of pop, rock, and peaceful indie is always a treat for the ears.
Lead vocalist Brady Parks has shared his eight current favorite tracks for our Personal Impressions. Let’s just say Brady has flawless taste. Listen to his full playlist and check out his commentary below.
1. exile (feat. Bon Iver) – Taylor Swift
This song is all the feels. Bon Iver is one of my all-time favorite artists and I’ve always loved T Swift so this collab is amazing. When I heard the news that they did a song together, I was excited but didn’t know what to expect. The song is so beautiful and so well-written and their voices flow so nicely together. Folklore is a great album and this is a song I keep coming back to over and over again.
2. Kyoto – Phoebe Bridgers
Phoebe is currently one of my favorite songwriters and lyricists. “Kyoto” feels so different from a lot of her stuff and I love the vibe. The horns are so rad and fit perfectly with the rock guitars and steady drum beat. Lyrically, she always paints the most vivid pictures and you feel like you are right along with her.
3. Tonight (I Wish I Was Your Boy) – The 1975
This song is a jam. The 1975 always know how to make me feel nostalgic in the best way and this song captures such a great emotion. I love the production on this track and I can’t wait for concerts to be a thing again cuz I want to see this live.
4. Are You Even Real – James Blake
If you want to get lost in a song, this is the one to do it. The production is so simple and timeless but intricate at the same time. The thing that stands out to me the most is the beautiful strings that flow in and out during this track. We are suckers for interesting string parts and that’s a big reason why we keep coming back to this song.
5. Beth/Rest – Bon Iver
This is one of my all-time favorite songs. The production is flawless and intriguing. I love that it incorporates so many different elements with the pedal steel, sax, electric guitars, beats and the celeste sounding keys and so much more. It’s a song that takes me places and reminds me of a specific time of my life. It’s beautifully written and produced.
6. Rose of Sharon – Mumford and Sons
I’ve always loved Mumford and I think Delta is one of their best albums. This track is so rad and I love that they took an instrument like the banjo and tweaked the sound to make it sonically unique.
7. Harmony Hall – Vampire Weekend
From the first listen of this song, I knew it was special. Vampire Weekend never disappoints and this song is so cool with the classical guitar but modern elements with the catchy hooks. They do so many different things in one song and I’m here for it.
8. Wildflower – The National Parks
Can we put one of our own on this playlist?? This song was so fun to create because it felt so different from anything we’ve ever done. We wanted to take a stab at a more rock version of TNP with big guitars and big drums and a lot of energy. This is one of my favorites from our new album and I want to play it live again so badly.
Impressions Magazine 