Pop Cultured: Parenthetical Girls

Parenthetical Girls pepper references to literature, art and film around all their dramatic pop songs so it's no surprise that Zach Pennington's Pop Cultured is our favourite yet. He explains how former band The Dead Science led him to discover the short film career of Yukio Mishima, "technical publications" and why the "dream song genre" is all the richer thanks to Alan Vega.

Video: Patriotism by Yukio Mishima



It should be said upfront that credit for this particular tip traces directly back to my dear friend Sam Mickens, occasional Parenthetical Girl and the leader of the group The Dead Science. Beyond the fact that he would be none-too-pleased were I to mention the film without at least a name-check, I would be remiss not to acknowledge the two men’s similarly awe-full roles in my life—their shared qualities (Mishima holding a place of profound significance in Sam's life) being that which draw me to both of them. Which is to say: sensitive intelligence, violence, dormant effeminacy, and staunch (if questionable) codes of honor, heroism, and morality. But enough about Sam.

An adaptation of one of his own short stories, Patriotism is the only film Mishima ever made; a film supposedly suppressed by his widow as an embarrassment—presumably in part for its weirdly graphic presages of Mishima’s own suicide by seppuku—until Criterion unearthed it in 2008. The whole thing is presently lurking on youtube, but the best bits (that is, the most violent/erotic/homoerotic bits) are featured in the middle section yonder:

Book: The Birthday Letters by Ted Hughes



Wherein poet Ted Hughes attempts to exonerate himself from accountability in Sylvia Plath’s death, and in the process just comes off looking like a massive dick. Not exactly “recommended,” but certainly fascinating.

Record: Saturn Strip by Alan Vega



Though I recognize myself as something of a miserablist, even the morbidly depressed have to find reasons to get out of bed in the morning. To that end, Alan Vega has become something more of a therapist and motivational speaker to me than a musician. Saturn Strip, Vega’s third solo album, has two of his most ecstatically inspirational songs: “Every 1’s a Winner” and “American Dreamers” (an aside: I am also a sucker for “dream” themed songs, a cannon to which Alan has contributed some epic gems). “Every 1’s a Winner” in particular has brought me back from the brink more times than I care to admit. Because I’m an adult, and that is totally embarrassing.

Artwork: Veneer Magazine



Ostensibly, Veneer presents itself as a "Technical Publication"—its dense, arcane articles covering a world of subjects too broad (the issue I have presently at hand includes horse farriery, the script to the T.I. film ATL, a fiscal report of the Port of Antwerp as it relates to the world's diamond trade, a scientific exploration of the phenomenon of "booming sand dunes," a math-heavy physics lesson entitled "Accelerated Emission Of Gamma Rays From the 31-Yr Isomer of
178HF Induced By X-Ray Irradiation", etc.) to actively function for any particular trade, per se. Its pages are a maze of the subtle physicalities of process: absurd paper stocks, curious typographical techniques, letterpress offset printing experiments, and other tactile elements that stand in direct opposition to functionality (spray foamed pages, embedded cubic zirconium, etc). Published in Portland by Marriage Publishing House under the exacting stewardship of my dear friend Aaron Flint Jamison, Veneer is to many of its critics some kind of obsessive long con with no discernible pay off, and to its champions a sort of elaborate, impossible Rubix Cube to become absorbed within. The truth is perhaps somewhere in the middle of these polarities.

Dat Trip: Timothy Lake, OR.

Portland Oregon doesn’t really have a port, as such. It’s roughly an hour inland from the Oregon coast, and is split lengthwise by a river whose hygienic properties are dubious at best. In the two weeks or so a year in which the clouds part over our fair city, the under-employed majority of the city’s young(ish) people make for any body of water that they can find, which usually amounts to one of the few rivers within the surrounding county. With closer options, two hours is a long way to drive for a swim—and god knows I’m not much for being out of doors—but Timothy Lake is nearly enough to make me forget all of that.

photo by Sarah Meadows

Something You Know



Parenthetical Girls are set to release the second installment of our five-part Privilege EP series, this one entitled Privilege, pt. II: The Past, Imperfect. The first single from this EP is entitled “Young Throats,” and there is a video for said song, shot by talented Germany filmmakers A Nice Idea Everyday (). The EP, which is only available via mail order from us at www.parentheticalgirls.com, is limited to an edition of 500, and is numbered in the blood of our own Rachael Jensen.

Something You Don't Know



photo by Steven Miller

This Spring we completed a theater piece in collaboration with experimental theater company Implied Violence, which had its debut at the Donaufestival in Krems, Austria. We are presently in the planning stages of recording the piece’s seven-song orchestral suite for probable release some time next year.

Also, I am currently collaborating on a new musical endeavor with Freddy Ruppert of Former Ghosts and Gareth Campesinos! from Los Campesinos! We are calling it Crying. Fingers crossed that something substantial comes of it relatively soon, as I've more or less put all my eggs in that particularly rickety basket.