Synthpop group Parlour Magic are back with a third album, The Embassy – and, much like the record’s namesake, they’ve been representing their home country from abroad a considerable amount lately.

Luc Bokor-Smith, the project’s leader and chief vocalist, grew up in New York City, where he had plenty of contact with music via local theater venues and performance halls. He developed his own guitar-playing and record-producing skills, ultimately putting them to fine use on two early records, The Fluid Neon Origami Trick (2020) and Saturn Return (2024), with The Embassy rounding out the trilogy. He’s remained loyal to New York over the years and found his footing in the city’s live music scene, but he also likes seeing other parts of the world and drawing artistic inspiration from what he finds there.

The Embassy - Parlour Magic — The Embassy – Parlour Magic

“Most of my best ideas come when I’m out of the city,” he says. “I’ve always found that being in a state of transit shakes things up a bit and makes it more likely that a new idea will reveal itself than when you’re surrounded by the comforts of home.” In that spirit, Bokor-Smith took a two-week trip to China recently, the purpose of which was simply to “get lost; explore with no pressure or destination.” Once those new ideas he’d been seeking revealed themselves, it was time to take another long flight out to Berlin and hammer them into music form alongside several of his trusted collaborators within the Funkhaus studio complex.

Bokor-Smith finally completed his lap of the globe by returning to New York and finalizing the new record at Flux Studios in the East Village. He’s immensely proud of the final result, calling it “the best thing PM has done.” Parlour Magic had an album release party for The Embassy at the Mercury Lounge, located down the block from the Flux studio, on June 4th, and they’ll come out West for several tour dates in California and Arizona later this summer. In their live format, Parlour Magic expand to a four-man act – with Erez Levin on the drums, Chris Blanchard handling the sound engineering, and Gus Benson contributing guitar, bass, and keys. All of this will ensure that the group attains its maximal sonic potential in front of live audiences this summer.

Speaking with Atwood Magazine, Bokor-Smith further shares how his globe-trotting collaborative efforts finally paid off in the form of The Embassy.

— —

:: stream/purchase The Embassy here ::

:: connect with Parlour Magic here ::

— —

A CONVERSATION WITH PARLOUR MAGIC

Atwood Magazine: Growing up, who were some of your chief musical influences? Who or what put you on the path to become a professional musician?

Parlour Magic (Luc Bokor-Smith): My parents were super into the theater, so my first favorite “records” as such were largely Broadway cast recordings. But it was Green Day’s “American Idiot” that pushed me to ask my mom for guitar lessons. I grew up on rock – The Strokes, Arctic Monkeys, Oasis – and then discovered Depeche Mode right before high school, and that changed things.

As a New York City native, what creative inspiration have you drawn from the city? Any particular individuals, venues, or key experiences around town?

Parlour Magic: I think native New Yorkers have a unique way of seeing the world. The city is in our DNA, so every move we make is informed by the city that shaped us. But the truth is that most of my best ideas come when I’m out of the city. I’ve always found that being in a state of transit shakes things up a bit and makes it more likely that a new idea will reveal itself than when you’re surrounded by the comforts of home.

You've released three albums now: The Fluid Neon Origami Trick, Saturn Return, and The Embassy. What important creative strides and artistic growth have you made from one album to the next?

Parlour Magic: I think that what sticks out to me in terms of evolution from album to album is more about the process than the final record. When I started I was so insular and quite fearful of letting anybody else in. I think making the second record with Fab went a long way towards breaking me out of that, and then the experience of playing those songs live with the band made me want what became “The Embassy” to be a much more open, collaborative process. And I think you can hear that on the album; the goal from the jump was to make a record that sounded like people in a room together.

What was it like shifting between New York City and Berlin while producing The Embassy? How do you think the album sounds different than it might have if you'd recorded it in just one city?

Parlour Magic: On a practical level, Berlin is where two of my closest collaborators – Luca Chesney and Florian Stepper – live, so without them quite literally everything would be different. But I do think that a lot of the record was influenced by Berlin itself, and by Funkhaus, the massive complex of studios and performance spaces where we worked. It’s a huge sprawling brutalist building that feels like a time capsule to 50s/60s East Germany; songs like “Alter Boy” and the title track were written there, and I have a hard time imagining writing those songs in any other city.

This was the first time I’ve written any significant part of a PM record in New York, and I think that the songs written there tend more towards the introspective; songs like “Dial Tone” and “Are We Crystal Now?” are examples of songs I wrote in my room at Flux Studios, and I think they’re both among the most personal songs I’ve written.

With this album, you've expanded your act and are collaborating with more outside artists than before. What is your reasoning behind that? What have been some key outcomes of your increased collaboration?

Parlour Magic: I suppose I touched on this earlier, but it’s been so fulfilling to watch Parlour Magic become a collaborative project with such amazing people surrounding it. I think that bringing in talented people and letting them do their thing and trusting that they understand where you’re coming from is really liberating. And it keeps me from repeating myself; getting to work Erez and Chris on the drums, for example, pulled us into much more of a rock-oriented direction than the beatboxes and samples that made up “Saturn Return.”

What are your feelings now that the new album is out? How do you hope fans will connect with it?

Parlour Magic: I guess it’s not really for me to say – I’m really proud of this album; I think it’s the best thing PM has done, and of course I hope people like it. But ultimately how it connects is entirely dependent on the listener and where they’re coming from, and what they’re bringing to the record. I find that my favorite albums are descriptive without being prescriptive; the listener can understand the world the album lives in, but there’s enough ambiguity there to be able to project whatever is going on in their lives onto it, because ultimately that’s where the connection comes from.

How did your record release party at the Mercury Lounge go? Where are you hoping to perform next?

Parlour Magic: It was great. We’ve gone from a three-piece to a four-piece for this tour – we’re being joined by Gus Benson on guitar, bass, and keys. Having someone as talented and versatile as Gus on board really makes the show come alive. And it’s his birthday today, so happy birthday, Gus. But yes, being home in NYC is always super special, and it was great to be able to have so many of the people who played a role in the album both on-record and behind the scenes there for it.

Anything you'd like to add?

Parlour Magic: Come see us on tour this summer! We’ll be all over the US starting in August.

— —