New Music: Paraphernalia – King & Country

For alt/shoegaze outfit Paraphernalia, King & Country is mainly about “home and what you choose to leave behind.” For new fans, it’s something more.

The Adelaide quartet covered Slowdive’s Dagger recently and made it very much their own: shoegaze that plunges into the genre’s heavier, almost metallic elements and well beyond, stillness rare in its torrents of focused noise.

King & Country serves a number of roles for Paraphernalia: the introduction of a new singer, as vocalist Clarissa Ryan joins existing members Gabriel Francis Brown, Aidan Manning, and Isaac Werner.

It’s also a versatile and stunning advert for how the band distils their influences down to bare bones before exploding into fragments of noise and fury. I heard fleeting references to Coheed and Cambria, the aforementioned Slowdive, and Alexisonfire: whether comprising a solitary guitar line or an unrelenting barrage of noise, the track is always melodic and intensely intimate.

You can hear King & Country and previous releases from Paraphernalia on Spotify, Apple Music, and Bandcamp. For all the latest band news, including a live appearance in Adelaide on the 26th of November supporting select all, make sure to follow Paraphernalia on Instagram, TikTok, or Facebook.

Header photo by jay