Fade up. A dark vision of the self, seen through an oily mirror in some dank basement of the subconscious. A swinging flickering lightbulb conjures sudden and alarming shadows. Its warm down here, but you can feel something alive in the darkness. It displays itself in the sharp bursts of blue light, charged in the growing intensity of the strobe. Dangerous and beautiful; searing into your awareness. And it knows something. The Fabric. You nudge up the fader. The Fabric, the debut album by Parade, is an innovative and concise take on modern progressive rock music - emotionally charged and shot through with sonic-gadgeteering. It is rooted in multi-instrumentalist producer Chris Johnson's borderline obsessive hunt for fresh sounding melody and intriguing lyrics. Written over the course of an 18-month world tour, playing guitar with former Marillion frontman Fish, the songs had plenty of diverse inspirations. Hearing Chris talk about sitting on hotel room floors in the middle of the night with the TV on; no sound; no lights; still rattled from the run of gigs before, playing unsettling chord progressions on the guitar and finding sweet tunes to sing over the top, you begin to understand where The Fabric gets its twisted beauty. Throughout the album you can catch glimpses of Chris's other life as a film sound designer. "It's the same as writing a song or playing your instrument. You identify an emotional core, pull it into focus and communicate it as effectively as you can. On The Fabric every note, every word, every noise carries a specific emotional intent." Elemental noise and distorted sounds emerge from the tracks, linking them and shifting the mood at each turn. Melody collides with angular guitar, moving from fragile to demented in a heartbeat. Cold synthetic sounds bolt through your veins as your skin is warmed by the entwining male and female voices. Boundaries blur. Claustrophobic turns to epic as you are cradled in the fresh and delicate thunder. This keen understanding of the expressive power of sound is underpinned by more than a decade of recording and touring in a multitude of guises, notably with Mostly Autumn and Fish. During these adventures Chris has met the fellow travelers that complete Parade - Anne-Marie Helder (Keys, Vocals), Gavin Griffiths (drums), Simon Snaize (Guitar), and Patrick Berry (Bass). Recording began in late 2008 when Chris and Gavin returned from the Fish tour to York with an armful of songs and a laptop full of demos. Splitting work between a studio "out in the woods" and Chris' own Nautical Studios, sessions for the album took some extreme diversions. "We were always experimenting. Always. Arranging the songs to create something dynamic and vital. Could be a delicate vocal, a demented guitar solo, or a backwards glockenspiel smashed to bits in a modulating filter and fed out through some old TV speakers." What emerged is a record of extremes; one that is both introspective, focused to a single inner point, and simultaneously exploded into massive widescreen. But Parade are a band of extremes; musicians who have come together as part of a great adventure. They want to share the next part with you.