- People sometimes ask why RA's reviews are so "late." I can only speak for myself when I say that some music takes time to properly figure out. It needs to simmer. Theo Parrish is a prime example: While he has tracks that take hold immediately, I often find myself coming back to the ones that I don't really get quickly and listen harder. More often than not, they're the ones I grow to love far more.
"Chemistry" is one of the immediate tunes that you can't help but fall in love with—an undeniable synth hook merging effortlessly with "Boom, Bip, Geetar Compounds" from Adi Dick. Andreya Triana, Vito Money and Om'Mas Keith, meanwhile, repeat an idea over and over: "The chemistry was meant to be," a line as simple as the sentiment it's trying to express. Parrish builds, builds and builds until you find yourself in another register altogether and ready for a house track to send you into orbit.
"Untitled One" doesn't have the strike-you-down-where-you-stand appeal of "Chemistry," but it's one of those aforementioned growers. Piano, guitar, bass and drum all futz around in an attempt to establish a groove, but it never really grows into anything until Parrish takes things down and transforms what had been shards of piano into a coherent lick. At that point, things congeal into something akin to a funk march. This is Parrish at his most psychedelic—helped in no small part by the noodling guitar—and it's just as complex as anything that Villalobos has put to wax. Stunning.
Tracklist A Chemistry
B Untitled One