#parklands

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Snowy trail 1

[davidnajewiczphotography]

The observation tower at  “The Parklands” in Louisville, KY.  Our stopping point on the parkland bike trail. A silo converted to an observation tower and an old grain bin. Beautiful clouds that day.

[willbrakeforneature]

[richwall101]

Stourhead House - Wiltshire - England

The House, and its Grounds and Parklands, are open to the public and is run by The National Trust...

The Stourton family had lived at the Stourhead estate for 500 years until they sold it to Sir Thomas Meres in 1714. His son, John Meres, sold it in 1717 to Henry Hoare, son of wealthy banker Sir Richard Hoare. The original manor house was demolished and a new Palladian Style house, one of the first of its kind, was designed by Colen Campbell and built by Nathaniel Ireson between 1721 and 1725.

[houseshomeskenya]

Rent a Cozy 2 Bedrooms Apartments in Parklands, Nairobi

[whats-in-a-sentence]

In 1844 Sturt too found odd

the general appearance of the wooded portion of [South Australia] . . . open forest without the slightest undergrowth save grass . . . In many places the trees are so sparingly, and I had almost said judiciously distributed as to resemble the park lands attached to a gentleman's residence in England.⁷

7. Charles Sturt, Narrative of an Expedition into Central Australia, vol. 2, Libraries Board of South Australia, Adelaide, [1849] 1965, pp. 229-30.

"Country: Future Fire, Future Farming" - Bill Gammage and Bruce Pascoe

[ashbrowil]

[thosesixyears]

Hiatus - Parklands review

Parklands was released in 2013 by British-Iranian producer Cyrus Shahrad, aka Hiatus. Seven tracks were co-written by British-Russian producer Alexandra Lilah Denton, aka Shura, who also performed vocals for the tracks in question. The title track “Parklands” was a collaboration with the Indian group Kirtaniyas.

Parklands was released after Shura and Hiatus had collaborated prior as “Hiatus & Shura”, releasing the tracks “River” and “Fortune’s Fool”, which were later included on this album.

From my very first listen to Parklands, I was immediately captivated by it. I listened to the whole album and was hit with an intense wave of emotions as each track played through to completion. Then I listened to it again, and again, and it quickly became my top listened-to album in October leading me to order a signed CD and eventually write this review. 

The album opens with "We Can Be Ghosts Now", where warm and welcoming instrumentation is juxtaposed by lyrics describing war making its way to London. 

“Bury everything you own On a hill in Peckham Rye Say a prayer for those you've known As tracer fire scars the sky”

The destruction is framed through the protagonist's desire to be with their lover in death, "Meet me in the dust cloud" "As the towers topple all around", so that they can "be ghosts now", finally being free in death.

With the public consciousness over these past months being so focused on the destruction in Gaza, I can't help but feel sad when I listen to this. The story it tells, despite describing a fictional war coming to London, feels relevant and frighteningly real.

"Cloud City" poignantly describes the protagonist losing a loved one "somewhere overseas". "As I held on to the sleeve of your coat" makes me think the protagonist was only a child when this happened, being forced to leave their parent or guardian behind as they then travelled overseas to their new home, possibly as a refugee.

Furthermore, “Something moved when I moved and you…” seems to describe the separation, as the protagonist’s grip on their guardian’s coat was lost, trailing off into the other repeating lines of the song.

“How did I ever lose you?” can also be heard throughout, speaking to the regret of the events.

As with “We Can Be Ghosts Now”, “Cloud City” follows the trend of songs with warm and comforting arrangements, beautifully blending organic and inorganic sounds, combined with melancholy lyrics.

"A Silver Exit" in comparison, being instrumental, is a welcome relief from the rawness of the previous two tracks' lyrics. Warm synth pads, slow percussion and reversed piano notes feel delicate and soothing. Before fading away and leaving the listener refreshed and primed for the next track.

"River", shares the same warm instrumentation as the rest of the album so far, but the lyrics are cryptic. Shura sings "Still you were so" over and over through the first half of the track. Sometimes the vocals include harmony and sometimes they are sung delicately solo. Occasionally "You took me down" and "to the river" are heard.

However, near the end of the track, the tone changes as Shura sings "You took me down, and drowned me" before staying silent. At the end, as the song fades, she can be heard again singing "You took me down" but the song ends before the rest of the verse can be finished. The mystery of "River" is intriguing. It sounds as if it could be the testimony of a murder victim, calling out the actions of their murderer from beyond the grave. Or, given she continues to sing as the song ends, it could be metaphorical. 

A YouTube user commented another possible interpretation, stating:

“Once again Hiatus and Shura teach us something about love, life, death, and peace.  After all he's done to her, she still loves him. Her 'soul' belongs to him.  The River may not be as literal or as metaphorical as one may think. It speaks of her becoming lost in him - 'drowned' as it were, in the swift currents of the river that is him.  And in the embrace of the river that she's been drowned in, she's found peace.” (Clauser)

This is possibly backed up by the original iteration of this song, written by Shura before “Parklands”. In Shura’s version, there is a line, “Come with me there I’ll marry you, darling, I’ll take you and make you my wife” (Denton), which does not appear in the later version that appears on “Parklands”. Shura’s version also does not include the line “You took me down and drowned me”, which implies the intent may not have been my own darker interpretation of the song.

Either way, Hiatus and Shura have not said what their intent was, and in my opinion, not knowing makes me feel uneasy. That said, the mystery only improves the song in my opinion. Alastair James Dickie’s review of “Parklands” closes on a similar note, stating that “The album treats me like a grown up capable of coming to my own conclusions. I really love that.” (Dickie)

"Fortune's Fool" is exemplary of the bittersweet feeling “Parklands” has as an album. It seems to imply, through its title “Fortune’s Fool”; a reference to Romeo and Juliet, and through its lyrics, the foolishness brought on by love. To me, it seems to be sung reflectively, looking back at the events that lead up to the present of the song.

There is a lot to unpack here, from the reference to Romeo and Juliet to the line “And I Am Kissing You”, likely a reference to Des'ree’s “Kissing You”, a song written for the 1996 film adaptation of Romeo and Juliet.

The music video is also interesting, showing a couple played by Hiatus and Shura, cutting their bed in half with a chainsaw, then taking the pieces, using them to build a raft with a white flag and setting out to sea on it (“Hiatus - Fortune’s Fool”). It speaks to the possible failures of their relationship and their eventual surrender to each other, literally setting off towards new horizons.

It’s a song that I think deserves further analysis, one which I would like to return to examine more here. For now, I’ll say that I appreciate all the symbolism, and the combination of the lyrics and beautiful instrumental backing track makes me feel a particular sadness, much like the rest of the album.

The title track "Parklands" has a beautiful, slow and deliberate build, before leading into the midsection with performances and vocals from the Indian group Kirtaniyas (credited here as Kirtanayas). The best translation I could find is that they are singing "Glory to Ram(a) and Sita" in Hindi. I do not speak Hindi but Google Translate does give me a transliteration that contains the words of what is sung (albeit perhaps in the incorrect order).

"Parklands" appears to be a remix of "Sita Rama" by Kirtaniyas, presented on the album "Parklands" as a collaboration. What Hiatus does with it is utterly transformative, retaining the original atmosphere but changing the genre completely.

"Parklands", like the album, is beautiful, and despite not being Hindu or speaking Hindi, I find the vocals and their backing soundscape mesmerising and comforting. The simplicity of it is refreshing, especially after the lyrically and symbolically dense tracks preceding it.

"Iran Air", one of my favourites on the album, opens with an LFO-filtered synth lead playing darker notes, which are then underscored by a deep reece bass. Shimmering pads and delicate piano notes then lead into the vocals. 

“Iran Air” is a fictionalised retelling of what people like Hiatus’ own father went through as refugees fleeing Iran, as he described in an interview.

“Obviously, it’s ultimately a tribute to my father. I wanted it to express the feeling of living in a country that isn’t your home. You can become acclimatised to living somewhere like London but you’ll never completely let go of that other life that you lived.” (King)

He goes on to describe his familial and personal connection to Iran, saying, 

“I’m half Iranian, my Mum’s English. I spent my first year and a half there, then the revolution happened and my family moved to the UK. We went back once in ’82 and then while we were there the war with Iraq kicked off. Saddam Hussein started bombing Tehran. After that my Dad washed his hands of it, assuming that we’d never go back. But when I reached my twenties I felt like there was this whole part of my life that I knew nothing about, and I wanted so desperately to reconnect with it. So in 2005 I went back to work as a journalist, covering the elections for The Sunday Times. That was the most seminal, formative experience of my life. I started obsessing over Iranian music and sampling loads of my Dad’s old records which were still in the house I was staying in. Lots of those samples appear on Ghost Notes.” (King)

This personal connection can absolutely be felt in “Iran Air”, which beautifully describes the trauma of leaving one’s home behind to start a new life, while never forgetting your origins.

As an Ojibwe person living on Turtle Island, I may not have any personal experience to draw on in comparison to living as a refugee, but I fully understand the connection we as individuals have to the lands we are Indigenous to, and “Iran Air” speaks to me in this way on a personal level.

“Iran Air” closes with the verse,

“Living for a secret sign Living for a secret sign and Dreaming Iran Air Looking up at every passing flight Every one a prayer”.

The verse describes the protagonist's desire to eventually return home to Iran on a returning flight. It is poignant and heartfelt, and the way “Iran Air” beautifully connects “Parklands” to Hiatus’ own past and heritage is really what makes the album stand out to me, more than it already did for the quality of its production and vocals. 

"Returning", along with the rest of the tracks on the album, is mostly instrumental aside from a few sampled vocals and non-lexical vocals sung by Shura on the final track.

“Returning” is a more upbeat and optimistic-sounding arrangement. It contains many of the same elements as “Iran Air” as well as the occasional vocal sample in a language I don’t recognize (perhaps Farsi vocals sampled from Hiatus’ father’s records?). The name “Returning” leads me to believe the track is an impression of Hiatus’ own experiences returning to Iran in his twenties. It is a beautiful track and a heartwarming follow-up to “Iran Air”, especially if my interpretation is correct.

"As Close to Me as You Are Now", opens with the distinctive sound of an orchestra tuning, which is then looped and backed by a steady four on the floor beat. Delayed and reversed notes play with a soothing bassline and gentle piano notes interspersed. A vocal sample saying something resembling “then we shall” is played occasionally before a mid-section with classical-sounding choral samples. 

Like many others on the album, the track is warm and soothing. Through the delicate and masterful arrangement of digitally manipulated audio and subtle synth and beats, “As Close to Me as You Are Now” is a track that beautifully fades into the background, lulling the listener into a pleasant trance.

"Call off Your Storm" is another beautiful instrumental. This time making use of a lot of what sounded like reversed guitar notes and a delicate solo performance on what I’m assuming is violin. It has more samples that I again assume are from Hiatus’ father’s record collection, including some vocals and a wind instrument I do not recognize. There are many small crescendos along with the reversed guitar notes which makes it sound like the composition is breathing before it eventually ends and leads to the final track.

"Tiny Doors”, the album’s closer, forgoes beats, large arrangements or lyrics, opting for a piano arrangement performed by Hiatus with the sounds of people muttering on a public street in the background. Shura’s vocals are distorted and manipulated into sounding like a wind instrument of some form, creating a beautiful, unique and emotional texture. It calmly ends with no grand fanfare or statement. The album ends before you even realise it was going to, simultaneously leaving you yearning for more and satisfied at the same time. If there was a more perfect way to close such a beautiful album, I don’t know what it is.

Overall the “Parklands” sounds very warm and laid back, putting the listener's guard down so the contrast with the comparably dark lyrics leaves them with an intense sense of melancholy and sadness. Music rarely provokes such an intense emotional reaction from me, so Parklands was an immediate standout and will likely remain one of my favourite albums going forward. I wish I’d heard it earlier, but I’m happy I discovered it nonetheless.

Parklands can be listened to on most major streaming platforms and purchased on Hiatus’ Bandcamp, where he also sells signed CDs.

Works Cited

Clauser, Ian, [@Darkhunter190able]. “Once Again Hiatus and Shura Teach Us Something About Love, Life, Death, and Peace...” Hiatus - River, 12 July 2013. Youtube, youtube.com/watch?v=Wlz-F5O27Gc&lc=Ugw-U5yTU4aPMYad_hp4AaABAg.

Denton, Alexandra Lilah, (Shura). “Shura ‘River.’” YouTube, uploaded by Villette2011, 15 Sept. 2011, youtube.com/watch?v=EiFm54h-vu8.

Dickie, Alastair James. “Album Review: ‘Parklands’ by Hiatus.” Soft Concrete, 24 May 2013, softconcrete.net/2013/05/08/album-review-parklands-by-hiatus.

“Hiatus - Fortune’s Fool.” YouTube, directed by Dan Susman, uploaded by Cyrus Shahrad [djhiatus], 15 Aug. 2011, youtube.com/watch?v=vMYvICifzCk. King, Alex. “Hiatus Interview - Cyrus Shahrad Talks Iran Air and Parklands.” Huck, 7 Dec. 2023, huckmag.com/article/hiatus.

[chelseabridgewharf]

Congratulation to Parklands (Kirkby)

Congratulations to Parklands (Kirkby) in sacking Rendall and Rittner and arranging a new managing agent. It was a somewhat complex situation and did not involve Right to Manage but did require a lot of hard work from a group of very determined leaseholders who have faced ridiculous service charges and appalling service over a long period and I have been happy to have been involved in a very minor…

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Frozen pond

[unsensitive-feelings]

Lamington National Park, rainforest in south-east Queensland, Australia

[willbrakeforneature]

10.5 miles at the park, doing my own thang and enjoying the day ☁️

[bouncinghedgehog]

Downtown Overview

[mkwaofm]

Court stops further constructions of illegal structures in Parklands

On 25th May 2023, the ELC Court made orders in an application filed by Residents along City Park Drive, Parklands stopping development of high-end residential houses by monied developers. In a ruling read by Justice Angote in the presence of lawyers representing more than ten parties, Justice Angote who is the President of the ELC courts stated that the court is satisfied that that the Applicants…

[houseshomeskenya]

spacious 3-bedroom apartments in the heart of Parklands, Nairobi, offering modern living with top-notch amenities. Enjoy 24-hour security with guards and CCTV, approved by U.N. Security Standards for your peace of mind. The clean, well-maintained compound features ample parking and excellent water supply from both a borehole and county sources. Located near Aga Khan Hospital, Aga Khan School, and Diamond Plaza, you'll have everything you need within reach. Experience comfort, convenience, and security in this prime location!