CD Review: Quiet Parade – Old Haunts

For the follow-up to their successful 2011 album, Please Come Home (We Hate It Here Without You), Halifax band, Quiet Parade once again teamed up with  2013 ECMA Producer of the Year, Daniel Ledwell.  The result is a fantastic 5-song EP titled Old Haunts, that was released in March.

Quiet Parade originally started as a solo project for Trevor Murphy and has blossomed into a quintet featuring Murphy, Anthony Phillips, Julia Weir, Jay Methot and Josh Pothier.  The band has been voted “Best Band To Listen to Quietly” in The Coast’s “Best of Music” readers poll the past 2 years.  That moniker is appropriate for Quiet Parade’s most recent release as well.

Beginning with “Ghosts”, the EP features five songs which reflect on people and places of the past.  “Ghosts” is a song about the ghosts that haunt one’s life “to tell me everything I’ve done wrong”.  It is a song that everyone can relate to.   “Edge of the Ocean” is a song about a “tiny little town at the edge of the ocean” that the people are leaving because it is basically being shut down.  

“How Come You Never Call (Or Write)?” is a re-worked version of  a song from 2010’s This House Is Haunted.  This song, written to an old once-depended on friend/lover, is my favourite song from the album. It is a catchy tune that I find myself singing throughout the day.  One of the reasons I love this new version so much is that it has a distinct In-Flight Safety feel to it. 

“Easy On Me” is song about trying to find the best/easiest way to say goodbye; and “Feel Young” is a beautiful song about getting old, yet still feeling young with the one you love.

Old Haunts is one of those albums that gets better with each listen, as you delve deeper into the layers of each song.  The lyrics are thought-provoking and the songs a joy to listen to.   Anyone who has listened to as much Daniel Ledwell produced music as I have, will notice a definite “Daniel Ledwell sound” to this album.  Anyone discovering Daniel Ledwell. and Quiet Parade, for the first time through Old Haunts…welcome…sit back…and enjoy the ride.

Old Haunts Track Listing

1. Ghosts

2. Edge of The Ocean

3. How Come You Never Call (or Write)?

4. Easy On Me

5. Feel Young