Sometimes, the temptation of love feels like it's been set down on a treadmill and the pace has been racketed up way, way too hot. It's one of those situations though where you're bound and determined to keep up with the breakneck speed because you'll be damned if you're going to look like a fool in front of the one that you're chasing after, the one that you're trailing. You're huffing and puffing, legs burning, heart obviously pumping a million beats per minute and your plan is just to not lose your feet and get spit off, to skid your face against the moving track and fall awkwardly against the floor. You're going to do everything you can to stay upright and look like you expected it to be like this.
The Toronto band, Parallels, make electro-pop songs that sound as if they are on the treadmill with us, or they're the encouragement that we're hearing blare through the house system as we're pounding away. It's music that bangs and then glides, cruising on the soft currents of Holly Dodson's Cyndi Lauper-like vocals. They coo and they shimmer with an indoor sunnyness, with the color of iridescent and strobe lights.
Dodson - who's joined in the group by her brother Nick and synth driverArtem Galperine - asks, "Is this heaven in your eyes?" on "Time Will Crawl," but the only thing that's crawling here are nerves and maybe fingertips across new skin. It's hot desire and still something about it feels as if it's not here yet. It's still just about to happen. It's racing toward these two people and we're not sure how they are going to turn out. If nothing else, they'll have all the desire they can handle.