Rough And Beautiful Place - Mydreamfever: Review

Mydreamfever

is a new side project of South Korean musician Parannoul who had a major breakout in the indie underground last year with his sophomore album To See The Next Part Of The Dream. Though the album was released to Bandcamp and YouTube without description fans quickly picked up that it was a predominately ambient project, something Paannoul has flirted with in the past.

Review By Lav:

I just spent an entire week writing about how much I enjoyed Parannoul in 2021 doing all of my year end lists so when I turned around and saw a new album from a new side project the very next day I was all in. While I did find it a bit difficult to pin down exactly what the album was aiming for thanks to a few curious instrumental choices, there are still plenty of moments of serene beauty that make the project a worthwhile experience for ambient fans.

The record gets off to a pretty good start with the two of the songs in the first half working together to make a base of natural ambience for the record. Sprout is the 14 minute opener with a sweeping composition bouncing between the more purely ambient natural atmosphere and much more dense and involved piano passages. The track has more instrumentation in the mix than you may think at first with a tribal drum passage that sneaks in before the 10 minute mark. It features plenty of compelling soundplay throughout. Circulation is another highlight with a noticeable hum placed in the background throughout the track. Unlike other more drone style cuts it actually fades in and out of intensity as the piano and chimes around it get more of less present. Even saying the word drone might imply the wrong kind of sound because this sonic landscape is aiming for a much more gentle sense of beauty. I think it mostly pulls this off and some of the warped vocals and industrial clattering actually end up working in its favor.

Ether comes later on and approaches its atmosphere in a much less direct way with an unpredictable composition that makes it difficult to predict exactly what it's going for. I still enjoy the journey of the track quite a bit and it is probably the piano highlight of the record purely in terms of being one of the more verbose ways its employed on the album while still not breaking the sense of wonder. The closing track Rough And Beautiful Place benefits quite a bit from its placement on the record and serves as the most overtly optimistic sounding track on the record. It has a detailed array of instrumentation but never really pushes it too far and the combination of drums and chimes is pleasant and never overbearing. 

A lot of the people who had criticism for the Parannoul album last year pointed out how that they didn't enjoy how digitized everything sounds. While I think those complaints are exaggerated and that the digitization adds to the raw intensity, I'd be lying if I said it didn't bother me a lot more here on a record more focused of quieter fragile soundscapes. Moment Is Now is the first time on the record where it really manifests despite being the records shortest song by far. This track is basically just a true piano instrumental and even the with natural soundscape the constant instrumental prescence goes too far to be ambient. It is fittingly the most in the moment of all the songs here but every time I heard it that only worked to take me out of the otherwise very peaceful start the record gets on with its first half. 

Spirit Of Love unfortunately stands out like a sore thumb on the record from the very first moments of the track when some very dramatic piano riffs kick it off sounding so out of place with the rest of the album. There are also some very jittery embellishments on the song that don't help any of it blend in any better. Even when I'm zooming in and looking at just this song by itself I'm not sure what it's hoping to achieve with SUCH a digital sounding piano that is actively oppressing the thin atmosphere and occasional disconnected vocal samples behind it. The second half of the track feels like it is taking a compelling turn towards something eerier but ultimately settles back in with a series of skipping tap percussion loops that are one of my least favorite things on the entire record. 

While Rough And Beautiful Place isn't perfect it is interesting. Increasingly in the modern day there are so many "ambient side projects" that gets cast aside by fans and critics alike because they are nothing more than a curiosity. This record flirts with more detail while also deploying some unique elements along the way that kept me listening and intent even when I wasn't crazy about what was going on. Parannoul has proven to be on a quite creative streak and I have a feeling we will hear from him again at some point in 2022, which I think is good because I'm becoming a bigger and bigger fan by the week. 6.5/10

Album Cover Review By Tyler Judson:

This cover while simple in color has a lot going on. The overstimulation I get from the green and the amount of texture in the piece hurts my eyes a little and doesn't read as a serene location. I love the idea of the brick wall and the intention behind it, but it feels unfinished. There doesn't seem to be a story in it and just looks like an outtake from a slice of life drawing. 5/10