An amazing debut single sets the stage for everything an artist will produce in their career, and in “Endless,” I think T.A. Parker has the right track to kick off his professional campaign. Fiery and removed from the cosmopolitan, yet not countrified in a traditional sense, there’s something really raw and unfiltered to enjoy about every element within this song, starting of course with the vocal delivery Parker himself provides us. “Endless” has harmonies bigger than skyscrapers presented in a manner more akin to folk music than anything on the urban beat, making its melodies some of the more sophisticated multilayered of any to be penned by a greenhorn.
Parker doesn’t waste any time attacking the verses in this piece, and his strength rarely comes across as overbearing. Instead, I would say his voice is so naturally peaceful that it enhances the edginess of the riffing in the backdrop, the textured presence of his acoustic strings, and the crash of the percussion as the track revs up into full-blown hard rock surrealism. He doesn’t want to neglect a harmony when he has the opportunity to unleash a really powerful one, and that’s made clear to us inside of this song’s first sixty seconds.
The vocal here is exceptionally good at carrying forth the diverse array of aesthetics influencing Parker’s style of lyricism, and I don’t think it would be too outrageous to say it’s the main reason “Endless” will likely appeal to aging hipsters and Gen Z rock fans the same. Those are two groups becoming increasingly divided when it comes to popular music, and if this guy can find a way to make them both happy with the same selection of songs, his debut album could be one for the record books (no pun intended).
I really cannot say enough about T.A. Parker’s potential as a rising star on the singer/songwriter circuit in 2021, and while 2020 was an all-around lackluster year for anyone who cared about music, the next seven months just might provide this player with the right string of venues to prove himself to a much wider audience. This initial offering already has most of the American underground raising an eyebrow at his majestic sound and veteran-like confidence in the recording studio, and even though I can’t speak for other music critics, my gut tells me this is going to score as many points with the mainstream passerby as it will the indie aficionado.
