There are, of course, 2 ways to consider the release of new single 'Jonah' by Norwegian alternative rock colossus 'Major Parkinson' so early on in January, depending on whether your post New Year glass is still half full, or now half empty. The first possibility is that this a welcome sign that 2020 is going to be a fabulous year of new releases, and that we're heading for 12 months of musical treats. The other perspective is that, quite frankly, a 'Major Parkinson' single is as good as it gets, and that the whole year, and maybe even the decade is now on a slow downhill of increasingly abject musical misery.
Thankfully we've seen into the future (or at least some record company press releases) and there are some encouragingly good albums due in the next couple of months to look forward to, although we'll have to patient before the new Major Parkinson album is released. 'Jonah' is the much welcome 1st single from their 5th studio album, a follow up to the 'impossible to follow up' 'Blackbox', one of the most complex, dark, twisted and utterly magnificent records to be released by anyone in musical history.
So it is understandable that 'Major Parkinson' describe 'Jonah' as a 'palate cleanser', a single to move on from 'Blackbox', whilst not returning either in the direction of earlier releases. And it is a complete success, mainly because of the extraordinary quality of the sound they somehow produce, featuring an arm swaying pop anthem to open, stadium scale synths and the quite inspired use of Los Alamitos Sound FX Choir, that take the main 'Jonah' musical theme introduced some 3 minutes in and add sublime harmonised layers that are guaranteed to make you sing-a-long to the chorus, as if you were standing in the back row of the choir itself. 'Jonah' is bordering on being a 'pop hit', whilst still offering those rich, cinematic textures and subtle moments of musical genius that will make everyone, especially their loyal following, want to listen again and again and again....:
You can buy 'Jonah' on Bandcamp, but you can have a sneaky listen here before you do:
'Major Parkinson' will be playing the Vulkan Arena in Olso on January 11th, it should be a great night and ticket links are below.
Buy 'Jonah' on Bandcamp, visit Major Parkinson on their Facebook page and buy tickets for the Oslo gig next week here.