Track Premiere: Parrot Dream’s “Automatic System”

It’s fitting of Parrot Dream to drop “Automatic System” the same week that Chromatics seemingly broke up. The Brooklyn via Santiago, Chile duo Christina Appel and Gonzalo Guerrero have a bonafide Italians Do It Better deep cut on their hands, a five-minute slow burn caked in radiant neon light. The same delicate, cascading synthesizers and hushed, late night vocals that Johnny Jewel cut his teeth on for the last decade is all over “Automatic System,” a slight pivot from the soaring dream pop of their excellent 2018 album LIGHT GOES.

Chromatics always appeared singular next to their various synthpop, indie rock, and vaporwave contemporaries with regards to aesthetic and musical chops, finding a way to extend songs with a cinematic grip. “Automatic System” is similarly a cut above whatever else still remains in this genre, Appel’s vocals a powerful and haunting force amidst the rising and falling fluorescent glow of the music. “Automatic System” will be available tomorrow (8/13) via the mighty Good Eye Records! You can hear it early below, and be sure to pre-save it here.