The National Parks’ frontman Brady Parks reflects on ten years of music while taking us on a track-by-track journey through the Utah band’s breathtaking sixth album ‘Wild Spirit,’ a triumphant return to home their folk roots that shines with a warm, radiant, and inspiring light.

Stream: “Wild Spirit” – The National Parks

I think we all go through times in life where we feel the weight of being lost, and this album explores what it means to find yourself through it all.

What does it take to unlock your ‘wild spirit’?

For The National Parks, the answer is hidden somewhere amidst ten long years of soul-searching and songwriting – a decade’s worth of personal, communal, and musical growth amongst four bandmates who have come to see themselves as a family. The indie folk band singer/songwriter Brady Parks set out to create in 2012 – together with his then-girlfriend (now wife) Megan Taylor Parks, and friends Sydney Macfarlane and Cam Brannelly – has since gone on to bring their spirited, heartfelt folk-tinged pop songs (and pop-tinged folks songs) to audiences around the world.

“We’ve been through so much together as a band, the highest highs and lowest lows,” an incredulous and humble Parks says, reflecting on time’s passing. “I think my biggest takeaway so far is to enjoy the journey of it all. Celebrate the wins and let the hard times be fuel and motivation to keep working and growing.”

“We’ve grown so much in the last 10 years,” he adds. “We were all in college when the band started, and now we’re all married with kids, and I think that evolution of life is constantly adding to who we are as a band. Over the years we have gone from a mellow folk band, to dabbling with more pop-infused sounds, to now coming back to our roots with our new album, but bringing in everything we’ve done along the way. I think we just know who we are as a band more than ever.”

Standing on a mountain,
but staring at the clouds
I’m searching for a view,
but I can’t see through where I am right now
I know there’s something out there,
got my ear to the ground
It’s buzzing like a bee,
blowing through the trees
like a whispered sound
Losing myself but I’m finding out fast
There are no footprints on this path

Guess I got a wild wild spirit
Always had a wild wild spirit
Dreaming all day, wandering all night
Walking through the forest of my mind
‘cause I got a wild wild spirit

– “Wild Spirit,” The National Parks

The National Parks have never sounded more in tune with themselves than they do today. Their sixth album Wild Spirit, independently released August 23^rd, is an intimate, energizing, emotionally charged collection of catchy, charismatic anthems and tender, earnest ballads, each one brought to life through a dazzling array rich, radiant vocal harmonies, bright, bold melodies, and warm acoustic instruments. It’s a record that harkens back to the band’s 2013 debut Young, while carrying forth all the life lessons they’ve learned over a decade that has spawned six-plus beloved studio albums (and assorted singles/EPs) and multiple national headline tours – all of which was accomplished while the band remained largely independent and in control of their own destiny.

“Wild Spirit is an album that feels like it takes everything we’ve done as a band, all the evolution of the years, and brings it all home and back to our roots. We couldn’t have made this album when we were starting because I think in a way, this album has been 10 years in the making,” Brady Parks tells Atwood Magazine.

“This is an album about feeling lost,” Parks continues. “When I was writing this record, I felt like I was lost in a metaphorical forest of life. These songs are about the uncertainty, the dark nights, the scary sounds of the wilderness, the loneliness and heartache. It’s also about how beautiful and transformative getting lost can be. The smell of new flowers you’ve never seen and the way the sunlight breaks and beams through the forest canopy. When you start hiking up to higher ground, standing on a peak of a mountain and looking at the views of a sprawling valley of trees and rivers, you gain a new perspective.”

“I think we all go through times in life where we feel the weight of being lost, and this album explores what it means to find yourself through it all.”

Putting things in context, Wild Spirit arrives less than 18 months after the band’s fifth studio album, 8th Wonder, which Atwood Magazine praised at the time as a cinematic soundtrack to adventure: “8th Wonder is an inspiring and enchanting companion for all of life’s experiences – the highs, the lows, the loves, the losses, the wins, the winding roads, and everything in-between. Full of radiant, sunny folk-pop sound and raw, heart-on-sleeve passion, it’s a resounding reminder that magic is happening every day, all around us; you just have to open yourself up to it and let the light shine in.”

The strain of hope and heartfelt optimism that permeated their last record carries forth, with even more intensity and intention, into The National Parks’ sixth LP.

“Before we started recording this album, we sat down with our producer, Scott Wiley, and listened through about 40 demos of songs,” Parks recalls. “We talked through each one, what the vision was and if we thought it was a song we should focus on or not. We knew we wanted this album to be a call back to our roots. We wanted it to feel like you were outside, and we wanted to have it be more focused on our organic instrumentation. That vision stayed consistent throughout the process, and it was really fun and a challenge to be intentionally more minimal and organic with our production.”

Parks candidly describes Wild Spirit as a record of wilderness, folk, and adventure. The title, pulled from the fourth track, is deliberate and intentional, and speaks to the passion and energy palpable in all twelve songs.

“Wild Spirit just captured the whole theme and how I had been feeling while writing it,” he says, smiling. “A lot of this album is coming from a place of being on a spiritual / faith journey and figuring out where you are with all of that. This album also feels very wild and free in a lot of ways. I think it captures the lyrical themes as well as the overall vibe of the production and songs.”

“I think this album feels more like us than anything we’ve made,” he adds. “It feels like bringing it back to who we are at the core, to where we started, but also feels very different than anything we’ve created so far.”

Waking up with the northwest sunrise
Cold air rushing in and out my lungs
It feels good to breathe deep again
Even if it’s for a second feel like me again
Baby I know that you feel it too
We’ve been caught in a landslide and unable to move
But something in this still perfection
Makes me feel okay with feeling no direction yeah

All along it’s you and me and the evergreens
Hold on I know we can weather anything
Through wounded hearts
and dead end starts you’re all I need ‘cause
All along it’s you and me and the evergreens

– “Evergreens,” The National Parks

Wild Spirit‘s wild spirit is infectious, undeniable, and irresistible.

From the moment “Caves” kicks in (following the 71-second long intro “Fore(st)Shadow”) to the final invigorating seconds of closer “Hinterland Reverie,” The National Parks imbue their music with a sense of wide-eyed wonder, excitement, and joy – emotions that are all hard to come by these days. Parks’ songwriting has never felt more personal or universal, and highlights like the dynamic, smile-inducing title track “Wild Spirit,” the heartwarmingly sentimental and sweet songs “Sightseeing,” “Timber!” and “Where You Are,” the triumphant and cheerful “Scenic Route,” and the feverish “Take a Hike” all bring us deep into his and his bandmates’ worlds, while simultaneously bringing us closer to ourselves.

In unleashing their own wild spirits, The National Parks unlock something in us all: Something innate, instinctive, and beautiful.

“I think this album in a lot of ways was one of the most challenging to write, but also the most freeing,” Parks admits, reflecting back on some of his favorite moments making these songs. “Writing it felt like I was conquering some inner battle and that felt really scary and good. [Some] highlights include co-writing for the first time with some legends in Nashville, Meg’s fiddle solo on ‘Caves,’ and late nights in the studio and laughing way too hard. It was a dream start to finish.”

Ever the poetic songwriter artist, Parks also offers up a few of his favorite lyrics:

“I don’t know what it means
but the color of the leaves
makes me think we’re supposed to change”

“You’re a redwood growing
out of pavement cracks”

“Everything I used to see
somehow does less to me,
it’s true, next to you,
the desert’s just a bunch of sand
the canyon doesn’t seem to grand it’s true.”

“It can be so picturesque,
to hope without knowing
what comes next”

From their humble beginnings as a student band at Brigham Young University, to the seasoned touring and recording artists they are today, The National Parks remain a source of bright, uplifting and inspiring light.

And what a wonderful feeling that is to behold. Wild Spirit is dynamic; Wild Spirit is emphatic; Wild Spirit is exhilarating.

But above all else, it’s human.

“I hope listeners can take away a sense of companionship through this album,” Brady Parks shares. “We’re all on journeys through some crazy terrain and I hope people know they aren’t alone on that. We also hope our music can uplift and inspire people in whatever they are going through in life.”

“I think I’ve taken away that it’s okay if something is hard or challenging. That it’s okay to be as honest as you want to be with your art and that life is just one big journey and it’s so beautiful.”

Experience the full record via our below stream, and peek inside The National Parks’ Wild Spirit with Atwood Magazine as Brady Parks goes track-by-track through the music and lyrics of his band’s sixth studio album!

— —

:: stream/purchase Wild Spirit here ::

:: connect with The National Parks here ::

Stream: ‘Wild Spirit’ – The National Parks

:: Inside Wild Spirit ::

— —

Fore(st)shadow

We wanted the album to have an intro song that in a way foreshadowed what was to come with the rest of the album. This song incorporates production elements that hint at what’s to come. We wanted this album to be a call back to our roots, a little more folky, leaning into the natural instrumentation and the stomp/holler vibe. In a way this album is about being lost in the metaphorical forest of life and so the name also alludes to that aspect as well.

Caves

Up until this album I haven’t done any co-writing for TNP and with this album I wanted to branch out and try something new. My management set up a bunch of writes for me last summer so I drove everything out from Utah to Nashville where I spent a month writing with incredible people. I was nervous because writing for TNP has always been so personal to me so I was a little apprehensive of how the writes would go with people I had never met. When I pulled up to Jeremiah Dunblaps house and knocked on the door he answered and said “hey, let’s go for a walk.” We ended up going for a hike and talking about life for an hour or so. It was an awesome way to talk and dive deep into what we were going to write about. When we got back to the studio the music flowed. Over the next few days I started sending over lyrics and the song started to come together. Caves was one of the funnest songs I’ve ever written. Sometimes with songwriting you have to force the creative juices to start flowing but other times it’s like you’re trying your hardest to keep up. Caves was one of those songs where the idea felt so clear from the start and felt like a song that wrote itself. At the heart, Caves is a song about deep love, about allowing someone to see the depths of your soul. It’s one of my favorites lyrically but also has some of my favorite production elements as well. That fiddle solo? Let’s go. It also just feels like another callback to our roots, the stop and claps, the yells, the organic instrumentation and a song that just breathes.

Scenic Route

Scenic route was one of the first songs that I wrote for this album and it was at a time that I felt like my head was spinning for a lot of reasons. I was feeling overwhelmed and weighed down but then I started writing this song and it felt like I could breathe again. It’s a song about navigating life with the one you love and how when life gets crazy it’s good to slow it down and step back and focus on what really matters. I think one of my favorite parts of the album is when this song transforms halfway through into what we call “the hoedown.”

Wild Spirit

It was pretty clear early on that this song was going to be special to us and in a way become the theme of the album in general. This is a song about being lost and then finding yourself. I wrote this with David Hodges and Ricky Manning out in Nashville and it was just magic from the beginning. We ended up talking for about 3 hours before we started writing and when we started diving in we were hooked with the ideas that were coming. I walked away from the write, called Megan and said “I think we just wrote a hit” and she said “i knew it was gonna be a good one, I could feel it before you left.” When the demo was done, I sent a handful of new songs to the band and immediately everyone wrote back “WILD SPIRIT” with the eyes emoji lol.

Timber!

We were on tour in the fall when I started messing around with a hooky guitar riff at soundchecks and brainstorming lyric ideas. We were in a hotel one night and the idea of “Timber! I’m falling” came out and I knew I had something with that. When we got home from the tour I finally sat down and dove into writing it. It’s a song about letting go of the things in life that hold us back from moving forward. Over the last year or so I’ve learned that it’s okay to trust fall, to not have all the answers and to lean on the people we love through it all.

Whatever Comes

It was a rainy day on my writing trip in Nashville when I went to write with Jordan Critz and Matt Wertz and I think that atmosphere kind of set the tone for this song in a way. I came to the write with a chord progression and as we talked about life and ideas jordan started crafting a production that was an absolute vibe. This song also has some of my favorite lyrics on the album. It’s about moving ahead without looking back. It’s about being on a spiritual/faith journey and about how when you’re going through difficult times it can be hard to see the bigger picture. It’s about going through the long dark night of the soul and looking up to see the stars and knowing that you’ll be okay.

Sightseeing

On one of my last writes in Nashville, I got to write with the incredible Dave Barnes. We started the write with a heart to heart, talked about life and music and inspirations and dove into writing this love song. This was also a song that felt like it wrote itself. When, as a band, we took it to the studio we wanted it to feel raw and simple. We brought in a string quartet and I love how the strings add to the magic of this song. It’s the softest song on the album and one that I keep coming back to.

Where You Are

This is a song about knowing where you want to be, but being unsure of how to get there or how long it’s going to take and being okay with that for a moment. I wrote this song with Dustin Wise in Nashville. I had the chord progression and the “ohhs’ and Dustin started messing around with production ideas. I was instantly hooked on the vibe of where the song was heading and the lyrical ideas started flowing right then and there. I love that this song switches part way through into a different rhythm and I feel like the meaning of the song shifts when the music does as well. It was fun to take it to June Audio in Utah and have Syd take the second verse. I love what that does to the dynamic and meaning.

Evergreens

Late last summer we did a short run of shows in the pacific northwest. One of the shows was a festival on an island outside of Seattle that we had to take a ferry in and out of. The morning after our show, we caught the first ferry in the morning at like 5am. As we were ferrying across the puget sound, the sky slowy started turning from pitch black to the most vibrant and colorful sunrise I had ever seen. Megan and I sat in awe and watched it. When we got home I wrote this song about going through thick and thin with the person you love. No matter what life gives you, you stand tall together like evergreens.

Take a Hike

This was the last song that I wrote for the album and I think that’s part of the reason it sounds different than a lot of the other songs. We maybe felt like we didn’t NEED another song but we also wanted to record this one and see what could happen. We’ve worked with our producer, Scott Wiley, on everything we’ve ever made. He is a musical genius and he understands us musically more than anyone. When we started working on this song, I didn’t create a demo to work from, instead we built it all from scratch together in the studio. We knew we wanted it to feel different, being more electric guitar driven, sung more like Bob Dylan and still have it work on the record. I love what this song came to be and is one of my personal favorites on the album.

Ain’t It Crazy

You never know when you’re gonna get the itch to write a song. For whatever reason at about midnight one night I knew I had to write and within about 30 minutes this song was done. It’s a love song about being so grateful to have found your person against all odds. I’ve written a lot of love songs over the years and I think this one is my favorite of them all.

Hinterland Reverie

This song is also one of my favorites on the album and I think is another one that captures the theme of Wild Spirit as a whole. It’s a song about questioning the meaning of life and navigating the journey of it all. It’s a high energy anthem and I love the bridge when it’s just piano and banjo. Something magical about that combo. When we were creating the tracklist for the album we felt like Hinterland Reverie was the right song to have as the last song to be a bookend of the project and bring the meaning of the album full circle.

— —

:: stream/purchase Wild Spirit here ::

:: connect with The National Parks here ::

— — — —

Connect to The National Parks on
Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Instagram

Discover new music on Atwood Magazine

 © Katie Seaman

Wild Spirit

an album by The National Parks