"Yeah, I Decided Not to Park Here"... Seum Delivers an Intense and Relatable Take on Middle Age with "Parking Life"

 

Seum - Parking Life

With their new album Parking Life, Canadian "doom'n bass" trio Seum has delivered one of the most cathartic albums I've heard since I began covering underground music. 

With a bare bones but insanely effective setup of gnarly bass, frenetic drums, and feral vocals, Seum perfectly captures the turmoil of middle life through a turbulent blend of sludge, stoner metal, hardcore, and good old fashioned punk rock spirit. In fact, listening to Parking Life feels like being in a pinball machine, bounced madly between utter chaos and hazy interludes that beg the questions "Where the fuck am I? How did I get here? How much time do I have left?" Sounds kind of like adulthood, doesn't it? 

Well, now that you've identified the problems ("loneliness, boredom, unfulfilling careers, addiction, and broken hearts"), you can make a choice. Keep on keeping on in the daily grind, giving up on your dreams and ambitions, the same old same old until one day, you mercifully drop dead. Or, you can elect "not to park here", boldly standing up and speaking out, brazenly choosing life and passion. That's exactly what Seum does throughout this album. 

Through a delivery so raw it's almost painful to hear at times (as it evokes genuine understanding from the listener), the sound of Parking Life is dirty, sweaty, intense, and above all, FED UP. (Even the coughing fits don't get edited out - this is the real deal). 

The music video for "Labrador". 

Believe it or not, even with all its grittiness, Parking Life is actually the first Seum album to showcase a softer side of the band via pockets of clean vocals (you'll hear this most on the songs Right Swipe Blues and Sad Labbath). 

As if this already wasn't enough goodness, Seum ends the album with a very cool surprise: their version of a ballad via an insane cover of Willie Nelson's Always on My Mind that you have to hear to fully appreciate. 

Of course, resolutely proclaiming one's intention to no longer "park" doesn't come without challenges. The monotonies, rules, and red tape of life don't go away completely, and of course, you can't forget the hidden fees. This is perfectly exemplified by Seum's use of a sound clip of Carl and the parking attendant from the 1996 film Fargo within the album's title track. "Yeah, I decided not to park here," Carl states casually and calmly. The attendant responds with a grin, "Well I'm sorry sir, we still gotta charge you the $4." 

Carl tells the parking attendant what's up. 

Final Thoughts

Parking Life marks my first time hearing Seum and, although I don't often listen to music with "unclean" vocals or vibe with anything too tumultuous these days, this is an album that resonated with me deeply on both a sonic and personal level. Not only is the subject matter so intensely relatable (particularly for those of us in our to-park-or-not-to-park era), but Parking Life is executed in such an unfettered, authentic way that one is compelled to listen up and ultimately give those shelved dreams a second thought. 

More About Seum

Seum Is:

Gaspard - Vocals

Piotr - Bass

Fred - Drums 

Bio:

"Seum is a bass-only sludge - Doom'n'bass - band from Montreal (Canada) formed by 3 doom veterans formerly in Lord Humungus (Gaspard - vocals), Mlah! (Piotr - bass), and Uluun (Fred - drums). Adding a ferocious punk energy to their New Orleans inspired sludge, the band is known for its intense live performances, workaholic attitude and nihilistic, tongue-in-cheek lyrics.

Seum means Venom in Arabic and is French slang for disappointment and frustration:

No guitars.

After releasing two albums, Winterized in June 2021, DOUBLE DOUBLE in February 2023 and multiple EPs while playing shows in Canada, US and Europe, the band just released Conjuring, a split album with Temple of the Fuzz Witch on Black Throne Productions.

Seum makes us relive the excitement felt in the first half of the 90’s when we discovered sludge through bands like Buzzov-en, Iron Monkey, Green Machine or Eyehategod".

A massive thank you to the band for the promo!