In Depth: P-rallel is defining London's sound
Photo by Jack Cullins
P-rallel epitomises London. The diversity in his sound and skillset illustrates a childhood of exposure while portraying the young modern Londoner. The days of the monolithic dream are long gone, we all have many dreams and we’re chasing them ferociously. P-rallel has shown in the infancy of his career that you can be successful on many fronts without loosing credibility.
The London “SoundBoy” has been on a journey of self discovery since he focused properly on music in 2015. Already friends with Louis Culture and Lord Apex - both featuring on the new Soundboy EP - he started becoming their go-to producer as they were working on their bars. From there Elevation Mediation was born, a group that consisted of P-rarallel, Lord Apex, Louis Culture and Finn Foxwell. Music starting drip feeding out from P-rallel over 2018/2019 with tracks like “Cold, Cherry Wine, Brakes & What For”, demonstrating the different pockets that
P-rallel could tap into.
In 2019 P-rallel showed us what a cohesive project from himself would look like, “In Due Time was like that EP for people to understand why I am doing this.” The three track EP was a short little glimpse into his artillery, “Tomorrow” is perfect for those head splitting hangovers, “99” with Lava La Rue encourages you to ruin a pair of Nikes at your favourite festival, “Charmer” with Sam Wise compliments the London morning commute with it’s Goldie-esc instrumental.
Photo by Jack Cullins
Soundboy is a different beast entirely, double the length of “In Due Time” you can immediately tell the evolution in sound. From the jump we are welcomed by an instrumental that guides us around London as a voice that would fit in Guy Ritchies film Snatch speaks over the beat. He speaks to the listener directly and without saying too much, sets the tone for the tape.
“Soulboy” with Greentea Peng plays next, I do warn any fans of Notting Hill Carnival to listen to this with caution. The thought of hearing this song with a Cherry B in had as the sun sets over West London may induce tears for many devout followers. The song is a certified smash for many years to come, P-rallel and Greentea Peng seems to capture London summertime with dancehall/reggae undertones effortlessly.
Westborn with Venna is personal favourite of mine, uptempo jazz instrumentation intertwines itself with a distant clarinet and strings. “Packed Bags” with Louis Culture and “Been Living” with Lord Apex are for the hip hop heads among us, smooth lyricism flows over instrumentals that feel genre-less. “Know Why” with Nayana Iz is a track that captures the feeling of an Uber home after a night out. It also continues P-rallel tradition of frequently collaborating with the West London collective “9-8”.
I spoke to P-rallel over FaceTime to discuss, music, life, quarantine and the “Road to Soundboy” documentary which he dropped just before releasing this tape.
Photo by Cosmo Webber
Hey man, thanks for your time, the tape is here, how does it feel to drop it?
It feels good man, it’s been a good 6 months since I finished the EP, the whole of quarantine I have just been sitting around waiting to move really.
Due to the tracks tapping into different sounds, what was the process in making them? Were they made at once or was you in different spaces when you was making them?
Hmm, I was on the move a lot while I was making this EP. I wasn’t really much in London especially last summer, I was touring with Lava La Rue, doing festivals and shit. Then the Slowthai stuff. So a lot of it was on the road but when I came back to London, it felt good to be back in London. A lot these ideas, in terms of the instrumental anyway, was always there. I just never really had anything to do with it.
Ooo, okay, what do you mean by that?
The structure of the whole idea was there it was just… As a DJ it didn’t make sense me dropping these songs as singles. idea was there but I just needed something to disguise the idea in.
What is the genre of music you tap into most when it comes to inspiration or production, is there even a genre one you tap into more than others?
Never really is, just whatever just has soul in it. I listen to everything, I don’t put boundaries over music. Music has always got a chance to surprise me. Even if it’s a country song, it could have some mad vocalist on it or some mad instrumentation. I don’t ever block myself from genres but I grew up on Soul music. That is the full-stop. Any music with soul in it, be it R&B, Hip Hop, House, everything.
Do you ever find the fact you are so diverse a problem? Even though it’s your “selling point” so to speak, is it ever a hinderance?
No way.
I like that..
No way fam. Being diverse is like an addiction at this point, like there is just a lot to go through. You could be concentrating on one genre and that’s cool, but there is no story as you are just fixated on one thing. Even if I fixate on one thing for one project, I still got to embrace the other vibes and different cultures. I am not just making music for other young black kids that just listen to the same music as me. I am trying to widen this, I want everyone to listen to the music I make. I am just a representation of what I have gone through in my childhood and what I have listened to. All I am trying to do is project that.
Photo by Jack Cullins
You grew up around music, what was that like and how much did that influence you? Has it always been music for you?
Yeah man, it’s been in me. It’s always been in me, before I even started doing music I was dancing.
Oh sick, what type?
Street dancing in East London, I was doing that from the ages of 6 - 14 and that was me, still involved in music but focusing on dance. We had our own music producer who would sit in the back of the rehearsals and would make the beats that we would perform to. I found it mad interesting, like the fact he was just watching us learn and then making beats around that, normally it’s the other way round. After I did a performance in the Barbican I was like “ite cool, I want to do something else.” I already knew Louis Culture and Lord Apex so I was just like let me solidify this a bit more and built like a home studio. Prior that though, music was just in the household.
Do you still dance?
Hmmmmm, nah. But we are going to open that book again,
I like that, don’t let that avenue die..
Definitely not, it’s like the next chapter, or a different book… I don’t know, I just want to get into dancing when there is enough eyes and it means enough. Right now, DJ, producing, singing, dancing, there is just a lot. In due time, I just got to ease everyone into it.
Wait, you said singing, did you lay down any vocals for the album? I didn’t know you was a singer...
So if you have listened to my music prior this tape, I am singing on most tracks, whether it’s the hook or it’s backing vocals.
Oh okay, what about on In Due Time?
I am not singing on that, but everything prior that I am, like Signs, What For, Brakes, Cherry B… I am actually singing background vocals on Soulboy as well.
I really like the visual for SoulBoy as well.
Thank you man.
Really good, I hope we are going to get more visuals soon?
Definitely. I just need more money (laughs), the people will get it, but my ideas are expensive.
You mentioned previously that they are your boys but I just wanted to ask about the features for the tape, Louis Culture, Lord Apex, Nayanna Iz, Venna and Greentea Peng - how did they come about? Was it natural, or was it a purposeful thing.
Again, as I have grown up with Louis and Apex, they became a part of my intro to music. Like I started recording with Louis just to figure out how to actually use all the programmes and stuff, same with Apex. That’s how we created Elevation Meditation which is our crew. It’s just always felt right to be working with those guys, so I just felt like they needed be to on the EP. I haven’t actually had a song with just Louis and just Apex since like 2015/2016. Nayanna Iz is part of 9-8 which is the other collective, we’re all so aligned together and everyone is friends, it’s a West London ting. It always feels right to collaborate with them like Lava La Rule on the the last EP, hopefully with the next EP I will collaborate with them again.
Godwilling man, are you working on the next EP? Do you have ideas?
I am, I am. Everything is just starting, I am starting to get back into that mindset. I haven’t been making any music during quarantine, I have just been living man, just been trying to be human.
I hear it because a lot of what you do involves being outside and around people, you are a DJ, you are a Soundman..
Yeah man, everything is so fast sometimes.. Quarantine really slowed everything down. I was just like oooo, let me just appreciate life right now. Let me just be at home and do things like a normal person. Still got bare emails to go through and sort out shit, still got to email back engineers and make sure things sound right. But in terms of creating new content, it was just a reset.
What do you foresee post Quarantine? Like what does the club scene & live scene look like to you?
I am just waiting, it’s going to be amazing when it does come back. It’s just going to be so different, it’s going to be a birth of a new generation in a way. I have still got my residency at Phonox so that’s just there waiting for me. I am not mad it, I mean I am mad at it because I am not getting paid but I am not mad at the fact that everyone can appreciate what is good, what is well. That whole scene of clubbing and going out is very special but it’s needs to be scrutinised, even the whole way men move towards women for example, this quarantine is a nice reset button for everyone to learn, read, and be like “alright, this is the situation at hand and this is how we need to move forward.”
Completely agree, I think it will be a special time when it comes back. That “birth of a generation” is actually a mad to think about, like there will be people who have missed it but it can almost create this whole new scene entirely.
Exactly, bro there are kids that have turned 18 and still can’t go to clubs yet. It’s going to be new for them as well new for us. It’s just going to be a nice little plate that everyone is going to dive into.
Very true, also one thing I wanted to say was the documentary was sick, I really enjoyed it. Shooting off the cuff moments with your friends is something I am a fan as a man who is into photography and film myself. I just wanted to ask you as the last year and half has been a good time for you, what are your highlights?
It was definitely touring… I said this when I was like 16/17 I think, but like watching kids that don’t actually have talent being flown out everywhere to do things is just crazy. If I am going to leave my house, I need things to be paid for, I need it to be full time and I need it to be fun. So when I was touring, having fun, because of the hard work I have been putting in for the last five years it was so mad to me.
It was sick to be out of the house and realise, “you are needed here,” in this place which is so far away from home. Being able to grow a relationship with Thai (Slowthai) and Lava La Rue was great for me, being more personal and not just doing this for making songs. Like I am really doing this for the experience and creating memories that in 10 years time we will look back on and be like “wow, this actually happened.” That was the reason for me doing the documentary, it’s for the next generation to really understand how it came about. We’re living in a digital age now where we are only just discovering what was shot on film back in the day and bringing it back to life. Everyone wants that content so I may as well be ahead of the curve now for when the time comes.
You said that the EP is a soundtrack to a hangover from a great night out. How did you go about capturing that sound or was it something that came to you after the tape was finished?I don’t know, it’s probably after I made it and listening back to it. It felt like what I would play in the cab home after doing a fucking mad set. That’s like my aspect of it.
Photo by Jack Cullins
How do you feel like this EP differs from your previous work and what do you want people to take away from it?
It’s a story from the beginning. We’re at the start of the story in general anyway, In Due Time was like that EP for people to understand why I am doing this. So SoundBoy to me is now what it looks like. In a way, Soundboy is me taking in the fact I am a DJ and I have done the DJ’in thing but this is what my music sounds like, this is the reason why I play all of those records in my set. I.e. the old school R&B, the old school funk, all of that. That’s where it comes from. So yeah, it’s putting to bed the whole DJ’in thing and for people to understand that I am trying to drop more music and shit.
But wait, you are still going to do sets right…
Still doing sets, don’t worry..
Ahh good because I need to see your set, my last question is a play on words but I wanted to get your opinion, who do you think you are running parallel with in your industry?
(Laughs) I wish I could tell you man, I don’t think.. I wish there was enough producers in the game to compare myself to. I don’t know, I don’t think I could really tell you. I don’t ever have competition and if I do, it’s myself.
The best competition to have, thank you man for your time.
Nah thank you man,
Enjoy your day, peace.
Take care man.
Words by Tim Ogu
