Parisian Duo SuperParka Blends Lo-Fi Hip Hop With Electronic On Album 'quatro'

Returning with their sonically striking new album quatro, Parisian duo SuperParka blends lo-fi hip hop, electronic and psychedelic grooves. The duo began their musical journey in 2017, the release of their song ‘GIRL’ was praised by the likes of Miguel and ‘skip’ which has racked up over 5 million streams on Spotify.

The ambient, synth-heavy sounds on the album overtone and compliment Paco’s soft vocals as well as the indie guitar riffs. Expressing themes of isolation in modern society and the arbitrary nature of the universe, SuperParka want people to know that they stand out from the rest.

Speaking on their background, vocalist Paco explains, ‘We come from a small city in France where being different was not really celebrated’ and how travelling has helped them understand where they belong.

Citing video game soundtracks, such as the soundtrack to Akira as a source of inspiration behind their latest project, SuperParka describes themselves as ‘ just two chill dudes living in Paris.’ The album could be recommended to fans of Flying Lotus, Unknown Mortal Orchestra and Tame Impala due to their indie and surrealist elements.

Each song on the nine-track album is unified with an ethereal, synthy, bedroom-pop sound, with the layered vocals on ‘az’ transitioning smoothly into electronic indie riffs and groovy bass behind ‘razzz’. The ambient, warm synths on ‘wandering’, a personal favourite of mine, are reminiscent of Brian Eno or Blood Orange. One of the songs, inspired by the anime film Akira is ‘easy’ which promotes messages of liberation.

‘heaven drop’ peaks its head as a stand-out lo-fi hip hop track on the album, with consistent drum patterns and psychedelic synth riffs which remind me of Childish Gambino’s earlier albums. Tracks 1 and 8, ‘quatro’ and ‘(reprise)’, create a hallucinogenic, nostalgic sound similar to Tame Impala and something I can imagine ASAP Rocky rapping over.

The album perfectly showcases the duo's dynamic approach to their sound and their ability to bend genres to their will, feeling and inspiration during the composition of each of the respective songs, creating excitement about where this duo are headed in the future.

Listen to 'quatro' here: