Stars Will Light The Way by Parabola West

Parabola West is the name of a band that I am currently enjoying the musical offerings thereof. Apple Music lists Parabola West as traditional Celtic, but I take that with a bit of Celtic sea salt tossed over my shoulder. There are elements of traditional Celtic, but Parabola West add a twist of their own to that. The press sheet says there is a blend electronica and folk. The music has been called folktronic, Celtic, Nordic folk and electronica.

Throw all those genre words away and listen to the damn music for crying aloud. What I hear is beautiful music. I could stop right there, add no more explanation, and feel that I have described the music well. Beautiful music, yeah, that fits just right.

The beautiful music we hear is pulled, pushed and teased in from various sources, refined, blended and finally coalescing as Stars Will Light The Way. The new musical offering from Parabola West, the artistic persona of singer and songwriter Amy Tucker West, a nomadic free spirit artist who started her journey in Springfield, Massachusetts. As an aside, I am particularly fond of the song Massachusetts by the Bee Gees.

Amy Tucker West began songwriting on piano as a teenager, and, at age 21, she was recruited into the London-based trip-hop band Dreamfield. With two critically acclaimed releases to their credit. Take Me With You was released in 1999, and Christopher’s Dream in 2002. Dreamfield dissolved in 2003.

After Dreamfield, Amy Tucker West relocated to New Zealand, taking a 10-year break from music to work in IT and engineering recruitment. That career shift doesn’t surprise me; music and numbers complement each other beautifully.

Amy Tucker West returned to her musical quest in 2013 under the moniker Parabola West. Living off-grid in an eco-home up a misty mountain near Raglan, New Zealand, she crafted her debut, Did You Hear? EP in 2014, followed by her Purity of Weakness EP in 2017 and now Stars Will Light The Way. Her music is entirely self and fan-funded as a 100% independent artist with no label affiliation. I’ve got to respect that.

But wait, it gets better! It took Parabola West five years to craft the 13 tracks into the album Stars Will Light The Way. Five Years is also a great song from the discography of David Bowie. Parabola West has some significant touchstones.

“This album has been collecting inside of me for a long time and across a lot of different emotions. I didn’t realize it as I was writing the songs, but there is a theme that emerges about the night sky and trying to find your way in the dark,”. says Amy Tucker West.

Amy Tucker West has previously teased us with the tracks No One Can Get Me Here, Calling Your Name, World of Ours, and Hannah. Hannah is an ethereal tale of the thin veil between the physical and spiritual worlds, heightened by the use of the medieval hurdy-gurdy and the haunting Swedish folk instrument Nyckelharpa.

The ‘Stars Will Light the Way‘ LP is out now on CD or digitally everywhere, including Spotify, Apple Music and Bandcamp.

A deluxe CD package with a 48-page hardcover fantasy book of lyrics and images is also available, limited to 100 copies. A fantastic team of creatives transforms the exclusive CD package into a different character for each song. It is available exclusively through the artist’s Paraboland store. https://shop.parabolawest.com/pages/about