Single Review: Henry Parker – ‘Red Fox’
2 min read
The up and coming British singer-songwriter Henry Parker has been generating buzz for his guitar playing and songs that evoke the rock greats such as Eric Clapton, George Harrison and Jimmy Page.
The funky opening riff of Red Fox is sex, making the track come onto listeners like the red fox in the track’s title. The heavy, muscular guitar riffs have the odd country twang and recall a bit of the sleazy, dirty bits of Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. However, the backing track in the verses is a bit pedestrian at times. The tambourine in the bridge, for example, sounds like an afterthought.
Parker has a reedy voice that would suits slower, psychedelic rock tracks like Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds (not that it’s a bad thing). This is quite apparent in the chorus, which sounds especially psychedelic with Parker’s almost-monotone delivery of the line ‘nobody knows her, nobody needs her’ and the cool ‘ooohs’ in the background. Parker changes it up with the occasional grunt and smirk in ‘when you look back, she’ll be gone’.
The seductive, wailing guitar solo in the bridge thrusts Red Fox into the perfect soundtrack to a go-go dancer’s routine. This is hardly surprising, as the track is about ‘a walker of the streetlight path’. The solo skilfully builds and builds with some fine finger-work and pedal treatment before climaxing (maybe just a tad too fast, but hopefully there is a longer build-up during live performances).
Red Fox is a grower, but is satisfying for listeners by the end. Even in the track’s final seconds, there is some filthy feedback and a trashy out-of-tune groan of the guitar strings to boot.
