Ok, this will be a dual review of Parannoul's second studio album and his first live album. I listened to the second studio album a while ago and listened to the live album today.
After the magic - While not as emotionally resonant to me as his first album, this is the better album overall. The production and instrumentals are MUCH better, turning the sound of this artist from distorted noise to crystal clear shoegaze. Polaris is the first song I heard from this artist, and boy it is a good intro track. It starts off with a nice acoustic guitar with vocals, introduces a unique drum pattern, and then about 2 minutes into the song it just explodes into a wall of noise that sounds like being underwater, but in a good way, and also loud. Every other track on this album, while not as good as the opener, is still a great track. Lyrically, this album is much more hopefull than his debut. I'm glad for him. This album I will probably listen to again in a couple of years and it will hit like a ton of bricks.
After the Night - This is Parannoul's first live album. You know how I said that the production on after the magic was good? Yeah this blows that album out of the fucking water. While his previous albums were entirely created with virtual instruments (surprisingly), This live performance consists of a live band. And holy shit does that make a difference. The opening track on this album is also Polaris. This is better than the studio version. I'm sorry, but it's just better. The instruments are clearer, and the explosion sounds somehow even better. The next track is "Beautiful World", from his first album. This is also better. Actually, every song on this album is better than the studio version. What the Fuck. I would reccomend listening to his other albums first, because they will sound worse if you listen to this first. Every song in the middle of the show sounds so energetic it got me headbanging. While I was listening at my desk. Wow. This is beautiful. And I didn't even talk about the last track
Ok, a little bit of a history lesson. There are 2 studio versions of the track "Into the endless night", known as take 2 and take 3. Take 2 is the earlier version; it is a slow, moody track with sad lyrics. It feels like a song written by someone who listened to the smiths one too many times. It is 4 minutes long. Take 3 is 9 minutes long, and is much more positive in comparison. It was released before After the Magic, and served as a sort of first single to that album. The tempo is slightly faster, the lyrics are more positive, the instruments are not distorted, etc. I like the take 3 version of the track more. One final piece of information that will come back later: for After the magic, Parannoul asked fans to send him audio of themselves singing along to some melodies, and answer a question. The melodies would be used on After the Magic, for these beautiful choral sections. The question was "tell me one wish related to your life"
Into the endless night - live is 46 minutes long. It is one of the greatest songs ever made. like, easily in the top 10. maybe even top 5. its that good. The song starts out as a newer version of take 2, with its slower tempo and more sad mood. but then instruments are added. slowly. the tempo doesn't change, but everything else slowly becomes the take 3 version of the song. If this was all, this would be a great live version of the song. We are only about 13 minutes in. The song gets quieter for a few minutes, before becoming a jam session between every member of the band. It is amazing. It is happy. but it gets louder. more distorted. louder more distorted louder you cant even hear the singing louder more distorted and before you know it it has become a goddamn noise track. and then, it stops. there is the sound of walking mixed with a piano. a voice speaks. its not parannoul. I don't know who this is, but I know where it came from. "tell me one wish related to your life". he's using the answers to that question here. the song starts building up. the drums come back. the strings come back. guitars come back. the voices overlap. suddenly, the buildup ends, and the intro to take 3 plays. Its at the faster tempo. the last 9 minutes are a performance of the song that sounds so goddamn triumphant it could make the coldest person in the world shed a tear. The song ends. and the crowd goes wild. Holy shit. This is his magnum opus. Parannoul is 22 years old. This kid is going places.
I thought that imagine dragons was an okay band. I had only listened to singles before this. I finally listened to an entire album of theirs. It is so, so, so boring. Every song blends into each other, and goes on for just a minute too long. If you listen to any of the singles, the rest of the album sounds like this. The only track that stands out is "Digital", which has a breakcore instrumental for some reason? This was so boring. I am not listening to a whole album of theirs ever again.
I listened to this album several years ago and didn't like it that much. Let me tell you, I had absolutely shit music taste back then because this album is fantastic. These songs all scratch an itch that I didn't know existed. From the synths, to the neo-soul instrumentals, to the smooth lyrics, this album is just 36 minutes of V I B E S.
I like to imagine that at some point there was some person who saw Hamilton, really liked it, and then found out that the guy who played Thomas Jefferson was in a rap group. And then they would chose one of these albums to see what they sounded like. And every second that passes, their face goes from interested to more and more concerned. And then they never pick up a rap album again.
Albums are pretty cool though. Like how the first one uses it's horror theme as part of an allegory for the african american experience, and then the second album is just "ok we're just doing an album about movie monsters".
This album is a shoegazy, noisy hour of guitars, drums, and barely heard Korean vocals. The mixing on the album is a little off, but I have a theory that it is on purpose. Just listen to the intro of the title track, and you can see that this person does know how to mix a song. The loud nature of the songs is probably to compliment the lyrics, something I will talk about later. The instrumentation of the songs is fantastic, from the energetic highs of "analog sentimentalism" and "youth rebellion" to the emotional moments on "white ceiling" and "beautiful world". Ignoring the lyrics, this is a really energetic, yet moody shoegaze album that should be checked out by any fan of the genre (at least I think. This is actually my first shoegaze album, funny enough).
Now, the lyrics. Some context is required; this album was seemingly written by a person who was somewhat of a loner. Many of the lyrics talk about being stuck in a room, losing friends, the bordem of a monotinous life, and a general self-loathing. The lyrics of these songs are not for everybody. But if they are for you, then holy fucking shit do they hit. And I am one of these people. While the first song didn't hit for me, by the second song the lyrics at times felt like a part of my soul was being put on display. Few pieces of media have given me this feeling. "White ceiling" is a standout track in this department. It talks about the sadness inherent in a monotinous lifestyle, through the image of waking up to a white ceiling, feeling bad, and having that day repeat ("yesterday is like today, today is like tommorow"). The final stanza of this song hit so close to home it made me cry. This song is beautiful. This album is beautiful. I love this. It's not perfect, the mixing could be a little bit better and some moments could be cut down, but it is still a masterpiece.
Also on the song "youth rebellion" Parannoul calls himself a "loser jobless virgin jackass fucking dickhead". Relatable.