Cassette
Free-ranging solo collection from Chronophage's Parker Allen, presented in 'diary' format so as to capture the open-ended nature of her creative process. If her work with Chronophage conjured the ghosts of a great lost Homestead sound, then First Song Diary seems to journey ever-deeper into the US cassette underground, its spirit located somewhere within those early Sebadoh tapes. There's a confessional, intimate nature to the recordings as a result, though the songs are by no means hemmed in by the conditions of their production, flitting between full band arrangements and piano-led solo digressions. Those early formations of indie rock provide by aesthetic and ideological guide, but there's also traces of mid-period emo present too (a carry over from Chronophage, i'd argue), fleeting expressions of suburban ennui and emotional isolation. No surprise, really, what with that title and all - nowt more emo than a diary after all.
