Dan Parr, known as The Last Whole Earth Catalog, has returned with another soul-freeing, wandering, layered track to precede his upcoming album. The Last Whole Earth Catalog’s music is inspiring and wholeheartedly liberating, using assorted music styles in an abstract, precious mingling of sound throughout his discography and embedded in each track.
We asked Parr what inspired him to write his new single, ‘Look At Me’, and he explained that he wanted to write a song about “escaping a controlling environment”. This sentiment fits perfectly with the sound of the song, with its loose, continuous drum rhythms and the embrace of the strumming pattern. The soft, subtle bassline is comforting and full, creating a floor on which the rest of the song stands. ‘Look At Me’ perfectly captures the feeling of escape with eclectic sounds from across many genres, reminiscent of his last single ‘Have You Ever?’.
The slight melancholic aura of the song comes from the idea of ‘escaping from your own head’, Parr says. The easygoing, lilting vocal melody draws in a feeling of being “self-conscious”, as he puts it, into the song, deriving from the attempt to escape your own head. Parr brings together his idea of “embarrassment” at the escape with a perfectly paced, stratified build of instrumental at the conclusion of the song.
The Last Whole Earth Catalog’s new album ‘We’re All Down The Rabbit Hole’ will be released in the near future; a half-concept album which he hopes will be able to “exist outside of that name tag”, being able to live as a collection of songs not just within that bracket. We are looking forward to hearing it, and meanwhile ‘Look At Me’ is streaming now on all platforms.
Bacchanalia Magazine 
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