On May Day 1947, 23-year-old Evelyn McHale leapt from the observation platform of the Empire State Building and plummeted down 86 floors to land gracefully on a United Nations limousine. Her body looked serene and restful, although the roof of the car had caved in and the windows had shattered. Four minutes afterward, photography student Robert Wiles snapped a photo of McHale before police arrived. His photo ended up in Life Magazine. On the observation deck, police found McHale’s coat and pocketbook containing a suicide note. She had left her fiancé and knew no other way to ease her despair.

“Evelyn McHale” is the title of a new track by Parenthetical Girls, who are no strangers to morbid and sordid stories. Their last album Entanglements featured a pop opera of sorts narrated by a pedophile. The music was dense and literary — orchestral chamber pop with allegorical confessions. The band’s latest project is no less unusual, although their sound has been scaled back. “Evelyn McHale” is a lilting tune with acoustic guitars that build up to Cocteau Twins-like arrangements, dreamy and ethereal. It’s part of the first of five 12-inch EPs that will make up a full-length box set titled Privilege.

Over the next year, the band will release the EPs separately, with each release designed by Swedish artist Jenny Mörtsell and limited to 500 copies. All records will also be hand-numbered in the blood of the band members. Creepy, perhaps, but at least you know they put a little bit of themselves into the music. The first 12-inch, On Death & Endearments, is due out on Feb. 23, 2010.

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