Life is stunningly beautiful but does contain streaks of darkness that are just as natural. That’s the concept behind Parker Millsap’s album “Wilderness Within You” and he pulls off the juxtaposition with songs that vary wildly from acoustic strummings to psychedelic electronic experiments.
Millsap uses his powerful voice and songwriting to push the boundarys of Americana music. The contrast between dark and light shows up most starkly on a song which questions society’s drawbacks, asking a lot of questions for which there are no easy answers.
The final song on the album is one of the most optimistic apocalyptic predictions ever and on the title track, a beautiful collaboration with roots singer Gillian Welch, Millsap compares the natural beauty of the world with what is inside each of us.
On “Wilderness Within You” Parker Millsap shows how disturbed he is by the way things are going in this world but shows even more grattitude for everything that we do have. It’s an ultimately uplifting message about humanity that dares us to pay attention to the big picture of life.
