Pia Fraus are part of Estonia's burgeoning and interesting indie and shoegaze scene that thankfully I found out a good bit about while visiting Tallinn last year and in particular on the records that the guy who runs Raamatukoi Grammofon I think it was assisted me to buy.
The album opens with the title track Empty Parks that gives me the feeling of sitting in the parks surrounding the old town in Tallinn perfectly in a lovely gauzy laid back shoegaze style and it also made me think of the bands I heard on a compilation of bands who've played the Schilling Festival and in particular Laulan Sinule as well as a good bit like the first album by Spc Eco.
Love Sports if very dreamy indeed and in the same ballpark as Ifwe as well as a little bit like Magnapop it's very lush and has some nice almost orchestral flourishes.
Slow Boat Fades Out feels like your sitting on the old docks in Tallinn by the Sea Plane Museum and watching a boat slowly move out of the harbor before walking to the nearby brewery for a quick beer, this is gentle and also reminds me of Damon and Naomi.
Mr Land Freezer is almost as icy as the title suggests and has a cool sheen to it that for me recalls The Luxembourg Signal crossed with Pastacas the latter of whom have in the past re-mixed some of Pia Fraus music.
Sweet Sunday Snow keeps with the nice dream pop laid back feel while making me think a bit of Close Lobsters at there most chilled. This also has just about the prettiest vocal take on the line "I don’t want to be a hooligan" it almost slips by unnoticed.
The New Water has a quite autumnal feel to it and is like Hobbes Fanclub crossed with Estonian legends Claire's Birthday as it almost sounds like something off the latter's City Loves album.
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Paper Flower Projects certainly works as the soundtrack for some serious origami action where you have to try to make the best origami flower you can in the 5 minutes this song takes to play as the slightly spacey noises envelop the room and you keep on folding and creating.
You're Not In Love sounds nothing like the song of a very similar name I helped produce at the start of the 90's and that's all to this songs credit, it also doesn't sound too sad at the fact either, with a very shimmer pop feel to it as you realize it was just a one night stand and not love.
Nice And Clever feels similar to the stuff I've heard by Imandra Lake and also a bit more of Claire's Birthday it has a nice chilled out glaze to it.
Late Summer Night really sounds like they are drinking some Vana Tallinn looking at a stunning view and just relaxing this is pretty and nicely blissed out.
The album closes with Australian Boots that from the sound of this haven't been used for stomping through the outback but are more for mincing around Sydney trying to look as pretty as possible and it's a cool way to finish a very nice and lush dreampop album.
Find out more at https://seksound.bandcamp.com/album/empty-parks https://www.facebook.com/piafrausband
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