Bristling with youth and devoid of pretense, this early Parasouls tune (revisited and reimagined as their new single) is clear proof that, sometimes, elasticity is overrated and simplicity is still king.
“Let’s Pretend” is of paramount import in Parasouls lore. It was the first tune singer-composer Dani Dimaano and bassist Josh Gaces played together in the band’s early incarnation as a duo in high school. It was practically the song they pinned their starry-eyed hopes on: the one they planned on entering to Wanderband, and ultimately the same one that catapulted them to the finals of Eastwood’s City of Music band tourney.
It was also, interestingly, the unassuming little pop-rocker that made them realize they needed a drummer (Igoy Dimaano) to round up their act, if they really wanted to be a proper group. Later on, it would also be their audition piece of sorts for Lilystars Records, and I’m guessing it’s obvious how that went.
The new (old) Parasouls single certainly bristles with youthful energy, and it makes one reconsider what makes songs tick. As a fortysomething weaned on insufferably cerebral fare, spinning something like “Let’s Pretend” is easily a walk down memory lane, not so much to simpler times in rock but also to less pretentious modes of creation, where heartbreak and distortion pedals somehow suffice (and how).
“Let’s Pretend” may sport that airy-fairy plainness that borders on collegiate, but what it lacks in complexity it makes up for in earnestness. It’s manifestly cut from the same cloth as their previous single.
“Can We, Can We” —elegiac singing contrasted with dirt tones and upbeat-pop-rock lamppost drumming—but it carries, as mentioned, the weight of history (no matter that it’s quite a young one).
Though the band has shown melodic and instrumental adeptness in their Christmas single “A December Afternoon” (from the Lilystars comp In Reverie ) their hearts evidently lie in stomping fare: rousers for sleepy midweek club shows, but also unlikely cheery companions for the lovelorn.
Dani recalls not so much the writing of it but the images that came to her—“people laughing and singing really loudly and having so much fun”—and those pictures make perfect sense set to this.