Parcels’ style of feel-good electropop might suggest that their process for making albums is entirely stress-free: Show up to the studio, jam it out, dance it up, and then there’s a record. But as it turns out, nothing could be further from the truth. “That’s all very fabricated,” the band’s bassist Noah Hill tells me. “We’re glad that comes across. It’s taken painstaking effort.” In truth, when the Australian quintet is putting together an album, they always make it as difficult as possible. “If it’s too easy, it doesn’t feel right,” Hill continues, relating this dynamic to the tight-knit funk tune “Leaveyourlove,” which served as the first single from their newly released third album, LOVED.
Parcels released the initial track in October of last year, but it eventually evolved into a seven-track EP featuring collaborations with an impressive array of artists such as Venezuelan reggae-pop darlings Rawayana and house music legend Robert Owens. “The process of getting that together—getting the collaborations and all the versions—felt like its own album,” Hill says. When asked why they always opt to go the extra mile with their music, his answer is simple: “When you’re searching for meaning, you need a challenge. You need to overcome obstacles. You want it to be inspired, and for it to feel larger than just the basic parameters of music or the style of what it is.”
This intention toward challenge has seen the band rise to massive levels, garnering prime slots at major festivals like Coachella and charting records all over the UK and Europe. Parcels’ previous two albums leaned heavily into more taxing methods of recording: For 2023’s Live Vol. 2, for example, all five band members holed up in a house outside of Paris, recording live versions of previously released tracks such as “Lightenup” and cuts like “Recast,” which at the time only existed as a staple of their live show. The prior record, 2021’s Day/Night, was a sprawling concept album featuring 19 tracks split into two halves. Within the dichotomy, Parcels got their hands dirty with orchestral arrangements and a spectrum of sounds that stretched from the ambient overtones of opener “Light” to the vintage disco of “Famous.”
What made the process of writing and recording LOVED easier than its predecessors, then, was its sense of relative simplicity—12 songs, no concept. “‘Let’s do something more in one lane,’” keyboardist/guitarist Patrick Hetherington recalls saying. “‘Something really pure and simple. Not trying to fit into anywhere. Just letting it come out’—which felt relaxing.” Sonically, the songs evoke classic Parcels, and they’re well fit for R&R. “Summerinlove” drops the tempo and strips back midrange elements to let vocalist Jules Crommelin’s falsetto shine above an active yet smooth bass line from Hill. On “Yougotmefeeling” the band sings in simmering harmony about being totally at peace with ending a relationship, and then dancing your way into a brighter future on sunny guitar chords and shimmering synth solos. “That was the intention, even from the beginning: Get back to center,” Hill adds. “Put our feet back on the ground, and let gravity pull us in again and remind us what we used to be like, what people liked about us, or what was the least friction.”
“When you’re searching for meaning, you need a challenge. You want it to be inspired, and for it to feel larger than just the basic parameters of music or the style of what it is.” — Noah Hill
The members of Parcels have their feet on the ground significantly less than most people, given their rigorous touring schedule. Shortly after LOVED’s release, the band will hit the road for 26 shows throughout the UK, Europe, North America, and Australia, with the last date landing just before the holiday downturn on December 7. Along the way, they’re hitting legendary venues like the Kia Forum in Los Angeles and OVO Wembley in London. “I don’t even know where I live anymore,” Hetherington says sardonically. “I’m in Amsterdam right now, and it’s like, ‘Why?’” Hill chimes in with a chuckle: “I’m living out of a suitcase for the rest of my life, possibly.”
Because they tour so much—ingesting countless experiences in different corners of the world, engaging with thousands of loving fans—they often build up immense inspiration while they’re on the road. Especially because they can’t express that inspiration in song form while they’re touring, they need to set aside the time to write and record. When they finally get back into the studio, they release all that inspiration into new songs—so many, in fact, that another challenging part of the process is narrowing the tracklist on the album, especially when they’re shooting for something more succinct like LOVED. “We really wanted to try and get it to around 45 minutes, vinyl length,” Hetherington says. “That was the hard part, because we write so much. Even when we did [Day/Night]. There are just too many songs.”
Parcels at Coachella 2025 / photo by Alden Bonecutter
Once the songs are ready, they want to take them back out on the road as soon as they can to sustain the inspiration. That means speeding up the logistics of releasing the album. “We’re getting frustrated by the slow nature of the process,” Hill says, “because your inspiration does begin to dwindle on projects, and it has a real lifespan inside of your own heart and soul. We’re starting to realize that the faster the better, and trying to increase our speed.” The faster they can get the songs out on the road, the faster they can express that inspiration on stage, guiding the new compositions in directions they couldn’t predict until that moment. “It’s a chance to take the music and put it into different worlds,” Hetherington adds. “What other kind of lives can these songs live out here? How many versions can we make? What kind of journey can we take them on? That’s fun.”
“[Touring offers] a chance to take the music and put it into different worlds. What other kind of lives can these songs live out here? What kind of journey can we take them on?” — Patrick Hetherington
Hill is still very inspired about the songs on the new album, and he’s especially excited about performing them. “There are some new songs on [LOVED] that we can use as pillars of the set and create theatrical fun moments. That’s what I’m most excited about for these big arena shows. Not just playing our songs, but finding an entertaining way to present them.”
Just playing the songs would be too easy for Parcels. They’re going to make the most of the inspiration they have around this music while it lasts, and imbue it with as much meaning as they can formulate when they finally deliver it to a live audience. Then, after not too long, they’ll be pushing themselves through the challenging process of finding meaning on the next record. “Making an album is just difficult,” Hill laughs. “It’s amazing that anybody does it at all.” FL
