Kevin Bronson on October 4th, 2019

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Strange Parade is the project of songwriter-keyboardist Brian Cleary, an L.A. scene veteran who played with explosive indie-rocker the Movies (gone, but not forgotten) and then with Merge Records’ Radar Brothers.

On Strange Parade’s debut album “Between Us All” (out today), Cleary is joined by a cast of Silver Lake all-stars, including Radar Brothers’ Jim Putnam, Be Hussey and Ethan Walter, Phil Manley (Trans Am), Paul Larson (Strictly Ballroom, the Minor Canon and now Data Maps), Seb Bailey (Division Day) and Derk Brown (Eels). The band’s new live lineup comes with long resumés, too: drummer Dan Allaire (Brian Jonestown Massacre) guitarist/lap steel player Paul Lacques (I See Hawks in L.A., Double Naught Spy Car) and bassist Ashley Berry.

The album covers covers plenty of sonic ground, from the skronky keys in the ’80s-inspired “The Locker Room” to the swirling, amped-up folk of “Smoking Gun” to the fever-dream slo-core of “Storylines” to the mid-tempo indie-rocker of “Due Process” and its shimmering guitar solo. “Between Us All” is a series of vignettes that documents Cleary’s varied influences, his distinct compositional skills and some of the places he’s been — and some where he’s still heading. Strange Parade’s second album is already in the works.

||| Watch: The video for “Under”

||| Also: Stream “Between Us All” via Spotify or Bandcamp

||| Live: Strange Parade celebrate their album release with a free show tonight at Highland Park Bowl, joined by Decorator and Celebrity Wolves. Info.