Desert Island Discourse

Hoo boy, this month has taken a dark turn. In the first official installment of this year's "If I Haven't Heard It, It's New to Me" month, Andrew has brought to the table the works of Parenthetical Girls, with the idea that it would spurn an interesting conversation between him and Max. He was right. Parenthetical Girls is the project of one Zac Bennington, owner of the highest cheekbones in the Pacific Northwest, as well as someone whose recently earned the dubious title of Max's Most Hated Musician. A protege of Xiu Xiu's Jamie Stewart, who produced his first album, Zac started off making lo-fi bedroom music before spiraling into more a direct Xiu Xiu pastiche and, eventually, string-laden chamber pop. He's also a smug asshat whose lyrics jump gayly over the line between provocative and malicious. You can see where some inter-host conflict would arise. But their growth as musicians is a fascinating one, and beneath the terrible personalities are some actually really good songs. They're basically the ind