Alt-pop favourites PARK RD have released their highly anticipated second studio album, Boyhood.
Boyhood is a collection of eleven songs capturing the coming-of-age years Tom, Leo, TK and Carlos are currently navigating in their own lives. Led by the singles ‘English Boy’ and ‘Fatal (with Molly Millington)’, the album began taking shape in New Zealand before a second wave of writing and inspiration followed the band’s relocation to Australia. Across the record, PARK RD lean into a lighter indie-pop sound, drawing inspiration from the likes of Fontaines D.C., The 1975 and Ryan Beatty.
The album arrives on the eve of their seven-city album release tour across Australia and New Zealand, which will be their first performances back in Aotearoa in nearly 12 months.
“This album has been written over a period of time, as we’ve been growing up and experiencing the world around us. It feels like an accumulation of our lives as friends and the relationships happening in the close circles around us. We have romance in there, we have songs about music, stories of good times as well as the bad times. It’s a snapshot of all the highs and lows of growing up, and we are so excited to share what Boyhood means to us with everyone”. - PARK RD
PARK RD continue to establish themselves across the Australian and New Zealand live scenes. Over the past few years, they have supported the likes of Pacific Avenue, The Rions, The Band CAMINO, Milky Chance, Spacey Jane, Eliza & The Delusionals, San Cisco and more.
Created across studios in Auckland and completed in Sydney, Boyhood captures a band moving into a new phase with greater confidence and a broader sonic palette, while retaining the melodic songwriting and live energy that have become central to PARK RD.
With the band producing and mixing themselves across the album, Boyhood truly presents PARK RD moving into a new phase with greater confidence. The album begins with the dreamy and contemplative ‘Butterflies’, before moving straight into ‘Mine’, a track which combines upbeat guitars alongside melancholy-tinged vocals from Tom Chamberlain. Written during a day off on tour, the band wrote ‘Fatal’ alongside Sydney-vocalist Molly Millington in one afternoon within hours of meeting. This instant-chemistry is evident on the track, with Millington and Chamberlain’s vocals combining to create a sound both immediate and instinctive.
Boyhood captures moments of a band navigating life in their early 20s, seen in songs like ‘English Boy’, ‘Floodlights’ and ‘Tomorrow Song’, speaking to growing up, new relationships, and moving on from those no longer in your life. ‘Red’ and ‘This Town’ see guitarist Leo Crawshaw-Bond taking lead vocals, with ‘Red’ serving as the emotional centre of the album - a beautiful track written about his childhood.
‘Good Time’ and ‘Saturn’ were two of the final songs written for the album, with both being upbeat slices of indie rock capturing a band embracing the big change of moving to a new city. ‘Again’ closes the album, a slightly left-field track co-written and produced with NZ electronic producer Messie. The track helps end the album on a high energy note, further showing their increased confidence in their own production and songwriting skills.