Zac Pennington minces fleet-footedly through the foyer of the Vienna’s museum of sound. He uses every corner of the space, expansively gestures with his hands and drives up and down in the elevator. There is a surreal aura he and the Parenthetical Girls have with them, something fairylike and graceful that makes them so easily distinguishable from everyone else walking around on the streets of the city on this early-November day. Musically, the Parenthetical Girls play on a very high level and still do a lot of improvising, as the Portland-based band has never done acoustic renditions of their multilayered, orchestral pop songs before. Thus, they had to figure out some instrumental parts on grand piano, accordion and melodica in the few minutes preceding the video shoot. During “Unmentionables” from their LP “Entanglements”, there is a bunch of school kids coming in. First, they whisper about the unconventional performance that is happening before their faces. But soon they curiously watch it, especially Zac’s expressive style of performing, and remain attentive until the end of the two song set.

slendermeanssociety.com/parenthetical