album is a reference to an actual pet parade that Johnson used to attend as a child in LaGrange, Illinois - and its idea is a metaphor for the "beauty and absurdity of existence." The album was nominated for Best Americana Album at the 2021 Libera Awards. The video for The Pet Parade’s single "The Balcony" was Johnson's directorial debut, co-directed with his wife Annie Beedy. It featured a cast of all puppets. That same song was also one of the most-played singles of 2021 on SiriusXMU radio. In 2021, Fruit Bats released a full-album cover of Smashing Pumpkins' 1993 record Siamese Dream. Johnson recorded the entire album himself at home in Los Angeles, and played every instrument. That same year, Fruit Bats made their first network television appearance since 2009, performing "The Balcony" on Late Night with Seth Meyers. The Fruit Bats’ double-disc, 20-year career retrospective Sometimes A Cloud Is Just a Cloud: Slow Growers, Sleeper Hits and Lost Songs was released in 2022. The first disc featured a curated assortment of popular songs from through the years, and the second was filled with B-sides, unreleased singles, and some of the early four track recordings from the 1990s. The collection's title comes from a lyric in the 2019 song "Cazadera". Fruit Bats toured extensively in 2022 after the COVID-19 pandemic derailed plans for 2020 and 2021 dates. They kicked off the year of touring reuniting with My Morning Jacket at that band's One Big Holiday festival in Cancun, Mexico. That year also saw Fruit Bats embark on their first proper tour of the United Kingdom since 2011, including an appearance at End of the Road Festival. "Humbug Mountain Song" was featured in an episode of Better Things in April 2022. Musical style and influences Fruit Bats sound has changed over the years, ranging from lo-fi indie Americana on Echolocation to the often disco-influenced sounds of Gold Past Life. Johnson has often cited Top 40 radio of the 1970s and 1980s as influences. Other professed early songwriting influences include The Velvet Underground, Uncle Tupelo, Big Star, The Beatles' White Album, Joni Mitchell, and Talk Talk. Johnson has described discovering the burgeoning mid-90s indie rock scene in his late teens, a discovery he would refer to as "the light at the end of the tunnel." He went on to say, "basically I kinda became a singer/songwriter right out of the gate,