The 1980s-inspired electro dance music of Toronto twosome Parallels spurred the crowd at Crowbar to get down as if it was the end of the work week and not the tail end of a Sunday night. Singer and keyboardist Holly Dodson demonstrated why she's drawn comparisons to Madonna and Kylie Minogue — her voice rang through the room and seduced the crowd in a way that only a pop star could. Cameron Findelay, former drummer for indie darlings Crystal Castles, demonstrated why that band became buzzy, manning the drum set expertly throughout the set.
Hitting the stage sometime around midnight, the group unleashed an impressively full sound coming from only keys and drums. The first track filled the pit immediately with Findelay's ferocious beat-keeping. It wasn't long before my neck started to hurt from my relentless head-bobbing to the crashing drums and synthesized splendor, and soon enough, I joined the pit for a spot of groovin'. I had good company; though there were likely less than 50 people there, the ones in the pit were all getting down, limbs flying in inspired motion.
The twosome introduced "Reservoir," a cut from 2011's Visionaries as "[their] ballad." Not quite adhering to the cheesy connotations of balladry, this number lit things up with a snaking beat, killer hook and Dodson's syrupy voice. These three aspects persisted through the night, as songs like "Salome" and "Find the Fire" melted together into danceable excellence.
"Ultralight" closed the set properly, a straight-up New Wave synthesized extravaganza that brought names like New Order and Blondie to mind. The song, about the seventh or eighth of the night, was the band's closer, yet calls for encore led to one last number, which was as great the previous ones. Although less than 10 average-length songs for a headliner seems a tad low, each was right-on-the-money. The last four words I wrote in my notebook summarized the show perfectly: "rock solid, no sleepers."
This article appears in May 19-25, 2011.