Parlour

Parlour emerged from Louisville’s late-1990s art and post-rock milieu, a circle that also yielded Slint, Papa M, the Kilowatthours, and My Morning Jacket. Its sound blends understated guitar voicings, mellow synthesizers, and slow-paced rhythms with echoes of Krautrock, resulting in layered grooves that sit comfortably alongside the work of Tortoise.

Tim Furnish launched the project in 1999. During the late 1980s and early 1990s he had already helped shape the regional post-rock aesthetic associated with Slint through his art-rock sextet Cerebellum, whose alumni later founded Crain, Rodan, Matmos, and Sunspring. After that band dissolved, Furnish largely withdrew from view, surfacing only occasionally as a sideman with Ariel M and the for Carnation. In private, however, he spent four years quietly assembling fresh compositions, drawing on assistance from his brother Simon Furnish as well as Crain’s Jon Cook, Todd Cook, Tony Bailey, and Will Hancock before ultimately joining forces with the experimental-pop outfit Paden to form Parlour.

The band’s first full-length statement, the intricate and reflective Octopus Off-Broadway, appeared on the influential American post-rock label Temporary Residence in April 2002. Five months afterward came Googler, a set of newly mixed late-’90s recordings that juxtaposed jazzy instrumental rock with bolder electronic explorations. For the 2005 EP Hives Fives the personnel was almost entirely rebuilt; Furnish now fronted a seven-piece ensemble featuring bass-clarinetist Steve Good, tenor-saxophonist Craig McClurkin, and vibraphonist/synthesizer player Ben Vandermeer, preserving the group’s signature fusion of jazz inflection and electronic color.

Another reconfiguration preceded Simulacrenfield, issued in 2010. Former Cerebellum guitarist Breck Pipes joined returning members alongside bassist Nadeem Siddiqi and synthesizer player Mac Finley. The album tightened the ensemble’s attack and introduced a modestly more assertive edge while retaining its exploratory, jazz-tinged character. Six years later Parlour resurfaced with a self-titled long-player and yet another revised lineup—Furnish and Pipes now accompanied by Evan Bailey, Clayton Ray, and Brian Sweeney. Stripped of woodwinds and more overtly guitar-driven, the record favored a brooding, cinematic atmosphere.