Four years have elapsed since Parker‘s debut solo single, the archly titled gem of techno-tribal minimalism ‘Melodius Thunk’, and its even more unorthodox sequel, the chilly cello weepie ‘Rocking Chair’. Both resurface here on the sometime DJ and singer’s debut album, surrounded by many more examples of glacially cool sound-warping and impeccably chic envelope-pushing.
Parker‘s terrain is recognisably Bjvrkish, culling its reference points from modern jazz and classical music as well as the ambient, arty end of techno. Among a handful of vocal tracks, ‘The Unknown’ builds to a swelling orchestral melodrama akin to ‘Play Dead’ while ‘Breaking The Code’ showcases Parker‘s shrill, vulnerable vibrato. She also sleepwalks numbly through ‘Some Other Level’ as lush, exotic string flourishes blossom from the weightless technoid blooping all around her.
‘Kiss My Arp’ is a stylish, intelligent, beautifully crafted debut. But frustratingly elusive amid its pristine liquid-crystal infrastructure is any real passion, any sense of emotional investment beyond mere designer desolation and vaguely defined post-millennial blues. This is an album you might admire, like cutting-edge architecture, the ideal soundtrack to some hi-tech art installation or chilled-out car journey across wintry countryside. It’s clever and original, but you end up wishing Parker would let you feel this music a little more.