New Music: Dolours – Parade

Next month sees Black Country outfit Dolours release their debut EP, and to get us ready, they have shared the brooding nonconformity of Parade.

For a band only just releasing their third single, Dolours have quickly established a style of their own. Parade brushes lightly against EBM synths and a post-punk bass line, giving the track the air of an undiscovered Gary Numan or Killing Joke gem from the 80s.

It’s not an exercise in nostalgia, though, as Parade delves into some meaty themes of knowing when to move on and being prepared to take that risk, framed around a modern take on post-punk, outward-looking and ultimately positive. The concept of the sun shining on the narrator’s parade is a recurrent one in the lyrics, and I think the future will equally shine on Dolours in the coming months, with the EP, plus an appearance in New York in 2027, already on the cards.

The band says of the track, which is their last single before the EP comes out, “[Parade] aims to capture the bitter-sweet feeling of leaving a situation that’s more bad than good for you and staying hopeful in the face of it.”

The Parade EP is set to drop on the 18th of November, and you can hear the song and more music from Dolours. The band appears at The Giffard Arms in Wolverhampton on the 21st of November. For details of the gig and EP, make sure you follow Dolours on Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok.