They sound (and dress like) like every great pop, rock, and disco band of the last 60 years, all rolled into one. It’s absolutely infectious.

Alright, cards on the table. I’m going to be making a lot of references to other music in this review – something that should normally be kept to a minimum – but with this group it feels all too appropriate. Parcels are a band in the old sense of the word. Each of the five members met in high school, played music over lunch break and from that moment on seem never to have been apart. They moved to Berlin from their Byron Bay home, and grew together both as friends and as artists, hitching themselves to that rare communion which feels less and less prevalent in the age of bedroom producers and solo artists.

It comes as no surprise then, that a band this committed, this talented have come up with a wildly ambitious, expertly executed double album for their second LP. All nineteen tracks were recorded live at La Frette Studios in Paris – I repeat – recorded live, and is split into two distinct but interconnected sides, based on concepts of day and night. The first, ‘Day’, is loose, raw, and uplifting. In ‘Night’, the production shifts ever-so slightly into a brooding, darker and more affected affair. The band were also joined by Owen Pallet – indie music’s go-to string arranger – who gives the whole album a cinematic feel, an orchestral narrative that plays throughout.

All of the singles, with the exception of ‘Famous’, are on the ‘Day’ side, and are given slightly different mixes to account for their position and flow within the album. ‘LIGHT’ opens the day, setting the tone with ambient keys, slow strings and smooth build before the distinctive Parcels harmony lines burst through. ‘Theworstthing’ slows things down after the elation of ‘Free’ and ‘Comingback’, with the first of Patrick Hetherington’s more moving and emotional tracks. ‘Somethinggreater’ is the pop song par excellence of the record, an anthemic outro that you can’t help but sing along with. Outside is also a standout, with Hetherington laying bare about lost family ties and isolation.

Then we meet the night, where everything gets a little darker, a little more acted upon. For example, in ‘Thefear’, in comparison to Day, the tight harmonies Parcels are known for are squeezed and manipulated even tighter, then reversed, producing an uncanny sensation. Each song seems to have either a thematic or sonic pair on the opposite side of the record, ‘LIGHT’ and ‘SHADOW’ are two sections of the same song, ‘Comingback’ and ‘Icallthishome’ deal with belonging and connection, ‘Somethinggreater’ and ‘Once’ strive for a future or past love, ‘Daywalk’ and ‘Nightwalk’ show off Parcels jazzier side, with the latter containing an outro with a ‘Kind of Blue’ style piano riff that blossoms into the sort of psychedelic soul you might have heard The Temptations singing over in years gone by. ‘Neverloved’ perhaps gets a little rock opera for this reviewer’s taste but as part of a whole it makes sense. ‘Lordhenry’ is the standout of ‘Night’ – a huge track that flits back and forth between grand orchestral sweeps and fast paced disco guitar, backed by Tropicalia-style percussion and Beatles-style harmonies – it’s hard not to love.

Admittedly, some of the songs do bear a more-than-passing resemblance to some classics of old. ‘Famous’ hits the orchestral dancefloor stomp of Earth, Wind and Fire’s Boogie Wonderland, Free the pre-disco-era Bee Gees sunshine, LIGHT the Brian Eno airport ambience. They were almost certainly channeling the relentless upbeat groove of Curtis Mayfield’s ‘Move On Up’ (probably the extended version too…) during the genesis of Comingback, but that doesn’t stop it from being song of the year (yes!). In fact, I’d say it it’s maybe even better for it – the connection to past is part of the fun of Parcels. They sound (and dress like) like every great pop, rock, and disco band of the last 60 years, all rolled into one. It’s absolutely infectious. Parcels are using these classic acts as jumping off points, and who can blame them? Is that not what every band does? Parcels just do it mind-bogglingly well, and in doing so, become something entirely different.