Ivan & The Parazol have changed things around, after finding freedom on the lakeside of Balaton in midwestern Hungary. Having released four albums in English, the band now fills an ever-felt gap in their artistic history with Hungarian album Budai Pop.
Ivan & The Parazol has existed as an English-singing Hungarian band for nearly ten years. Their success in their homeland really was just as surprising as their success abroad. In Hungary it was still rare for non-Hungarian music to have commercial success, while simultaneously few Hungarian bands found success across borders. Despite their odds, Ivan & The Parazol managed to become one of the influential bands of the 2010s in Hungary, also leading to a solid fanbase in the surrounding countries.
The Budapest-based band have explored many facets of the live world during the last few years – performing a number of times at SXSW, Eurosonic, Reeperbahn, main-staging the Sziget Festival, supporting Deep Purple at their Budapest stop of their arena tour, supporting Rival Sons’ European tour, while also attaining an MTV EMA award-winners for Best Central European Act; the band are by no-means finding their feet in regards to rearing their stylistic sound.
With their new album Budai Pop, the band tries to fill an ever-felt gap in their artistic history. Because of their English tongue, they never felt truly at home in Hungary, while also feeling a little untrue to themselves as an English-singing Hungarian band touring the world.
On Budai Pop, Ivan & The Parazol finally found the way to express their true selves. The four-piece band moved to the lakeside of Balaton in midwestern Hungary to write and record. The songs portray a new kind of freedom that the band had never experienced, having always recorded under the time pressure of expensive studios. Balaton is undoubtedly a creative source for many Hungarian artists and Budai Pop contains the unique Balaton "scent" that only those who have been there can understand.
The band is no longer afraid of exploring their own language, connecting to a world in which people all around the globe are hungry for originality. Budai Pop is a truly honest and very Hungarian rock album, exploring the borders of genres and fitting into the modern indie world of artists like Khruangbin, Altin Gün and My Baby. Ivan & The Parazol is betting on becoming the next bilingual success in this new era of popular music.