An Austin-based singer, songwriter, and renowned furniture scientist, Parker Chapin delivers an eccentric, mustache + mullet image to his indie-folk and alt-country infused sing-alongs. The 27-year old spent much of his teens in and out of substance abuse treatment centers searching for meaning in the world, finding sobriety at age 20. To this day, he picks out lyrics from his rehab journals, giving them a new life through song.
His upcoming record, What’s In It For Me? [March 2022] is his best display of being a vocalist, he has found new avenues to bend his voice to different shapes and sounds. The album is grounded in Parker’s past selfishness. He is blatant about it in songs like, This Is Better Than Heaven, and Pretty Flowers. One might ponder that he is using these songs as a vessel to leave the past in the past. In songs like, The Voices, his inner turmoil is evident. “I can’t sleep with the voices, while reminiscing on my choices.” His songs are less about “the girl” or “the situation” and more about “his part” and “his mistakes” in said scenarios, making them all the more relatable to the human condition.
The album ends on, Another Love Song, where Parker exclaims, “I’m not just another love song gone wrong”. Haunting harmonies embellish this exclamation mark on Parker’s debut record. To him it seems as if giving love is the catalyst for growing up. Perhaps in the end, a “What’s In It For Me?” mentality in life can only get you so far..