_{By Sammy Collier}

The National Parks (consisting of Brady Parks, Sydney Macfarlane, Cam Brannelly, and Megan Taylor Parks) live up to their name. Listening to their music feels like you are driving in a national park. Recently I was listening to this album while mowing my lawn. It was great to be outside, but I wasn’t particularly excited to be doing this chore. However, while listening, I was taken back to my hikes with my dad at Mount Rainier. It also gave me flashbacks to our trip to the Badlands in South Dakota (my grass wasn’t quite long enough to look like South Dakota plains but it got close). This album took me out of the monotony of this outdoor task and brought me back to why I love nature so much. 

I’ll start with “Great Sky” which was my favorite song from the album. This song is perfect evidence of what I was just writing about. This song is all about seeing something in nature that makes your jaw drop. Something that makes you pause to consider things you hadn’t before. Something that makes you pause your nihilism for a moment and focus on what gives life meaning. 

But it makes me think about the grand scheme
How do I fit into everything
If there’s no end in sight, is there no end to life?
That’s when my thoughts slow down
As I’m looking up to the great sky.

What is so brilliant about Brady Parks’ songwriting is his ability to bring you back into a personal memory. I don’t know how else to describe it other than that. He is able to communicate feelings that are so universal, but the subject is so personal that the songs start to feel so specific to the listener. To further explain this point, I’ll use another example in the song “I Better Go.” This song has a very simple meaning. When he and his wife get old, he wants to die before her. 

When we are old, I better go first
‘Cause a second without you in this life
Would be the worst.
But until then, I’ll go where you go.
I will follow your lead ‘til the end of the earth,
But when we are old, I better go first.

This is another universal feeling. When you are madly in love with someone you don’t want to live without them! But because it is such an intimate feeling, his writing brings you into your own life. I can’t help but think about my wife when I listen to this for two reasons. One, because I love her more than anything. And two, because we have literally had this exact conversation! It sounds morbid, but I think most people have had this conversation with their spouse or someone they are extremely close to. I would rather die first but she says she would rather die first. We each can’t imagine life without the other, and that is beautiful. 

I could write about every one of these songs but to make this article shorter I will finish with the song “Angels.” Anyone from Utah should feel a sense of pride while listening to this song. This one is very explicitly about Zion National Park. 

We were swayin’ in the firelight to the sound of coyote calls,
Our silhouettes like giants dancin’ on Zion canyon walls.
We climbed up where the angels land.
We looked right at home, and you took my hand.
I thought, “Hey, Imma tell our kids about this someday”

Anyone that has climbed up Angels Landing in Zion National Park has had that same experience. Even if you are terrified of heights, for a split second you can think to yourself “Wow. I’m gonna tell my kids about this.”

The National Parks are a staple in the Provo music scene. Since 2013 they have paved the way for the genre that us at Provo Music Magazine have called “Dusty Deseret.” I am glad they are still making music. Life is better when there is music that can pull you out of your own mind and remind you of something bigger, something better. Whether that be making you consider the purpose of life, helping you be thankful for the people you are closest to, or reminding you that you have had moments in life that you can’t wait to tell your future kids about, this album helps you find the beauty in life.