Parabola West ‘Calling Your Name’ Review: New Zealand songstress casts soothing soundscapes on new single.

In the 21st century its hard for new musical vocabulary to be made: the elements of modern songcraft have been well explored. But it’s always nice to see an artist twist the familiar into new shapes.

Such is the case with Calling Your Name, a new single from Amy Tucker West, aka Parabola West. An artist who ditched her native Massachusetts roots for New Zealand, West has forged a sound equal parts electronic pop and European folk.

The track percolates at a soothing pace, with ethereal swirls of sound cascading off her clear, keening vocals (akin to CHVRCHES Laura Mayberry with a slightly deeper register). While it’s primarily an electronic piece, it conjures pastoral images and holistic imagery.

If you hear an undercurrent of heartache and healing throughout the song, it’s by design. In a press release, West says the song “expresses the torment of loving someone who has become emotionally numb. Ask anyone on a significant dose of antidepressants and they’ll tell you about the numbing – that slow, subtle nothingness that keeps life ticking over without incident but turns down all the colour.”

“The lyrics “you are a wilderness frozen from me” kind of sum up the bad times, when you just can’t reach the heart until the ice melts,” she adds, noting “we wanted to create a curious, beautiful, and dark fairytale feeling with the video. The goal was to make it feel both otherworldly and relatable – to express the isolation, hope, and madness of holding an unreachable heart.”

Its serene, transportive powers may come from West’s unorthodox recording process: the press release states that  “This song was recorded at 432Hz instead of the standard 440Hz due to Parabola West’s experimentation with healing frequencies in her music.”

So check out the above YouTube clip to experience its medicinal properties for yourself.

You can purchase Parabola’s West’s Calling Your Name via Amazon below: