After The Magic - Parannoul: Review
Parannoul
is an anonymous Korean student who released music on Bandcamp for years before finally breaking out under the pseudonym Parannoul with their album To See The Next Part Of The Dream in 2021. The record received heaps of critical acclaim and drew comparisons to other indie musicians who drew acclaim for their lo-fi digital releases. Since then Parannoul has kept busy, releasing an ambient album under the mydreamfever side project early last year and following it up with an EP of Dream B-Sides and a collaborative project with Asian Glow.
Review by Lav:
To say that To See The Next Part Of The Dream won me over instantly would somehow still be an understatement. While some of the falling over myself I did in order to praise this record when it came out does seem kind of silly in retrospect one thing that hasn't wavered is just how much I actually love listening to it. I can easily call it one of my favorite albums of the decade so far, which made this one of my most anticipated releases of the year as soon as it was confirmed. Even though the lead single didn't grab me quite as quickly and I wasn't nearly as in love with anything Parannoul did in 2022 as I was with what he did in 2021, I was still excited for After The Magic and for the most part that excitement seems justified.
The album kicks off with a pair of track that I'm still a bit mixed about. Lead single Insomnia features some very literal lyrics by Parannoul standards addressing insomnia. It feels kind of weird when contrasted with how busy and chaotic the instrumental feels. Thankfully, the refrains have grown on me as they do a great job at feeling genuinely vulnerable and anguished. I do think the stuttering drums still stand out a bit awkwardly from everything else in the song, but it doesn't stop me from enjoying it. The opening track Polaris is a surprise right out of the gate displaying cleaner guitar strumming than I think I've ever heard on a Parannoul song, but it's all in service of the explosion of sound that kicks in around the two-minute mark. It's an alright song though I appreciate how good of a job it does introducing the new style of earnest aching that dominates the record in place of the angsty self-loathing from To See,
If you came to this record looking for the explosive lo-fi sound and impressionistic instrumentation then the run of longer songs right at the record's core is definitely for you and it's the place where I started to fall in love with the album. We Shine At Night is the second single and I loved it the moment it hit my ears. The combination of sweet catchy refrains with the blistering instrumental palette is fantastic. The way the sweet guitar tones slide in and out of the harsher distortion later on in the track and with the lively drums the burst out of the background at perfect moments just heals my wounds. This song is amazing.
Arrival features lyrics all about the anxiety of departing on a journey of love with someone and hoping that they love you as much as you love them. I really appreciate that sentiment being weaved so deeply into the song itself, which feels like a journey whose instrumental eruption in the second half is a well-deserved conclusion for the cocktail of emotions it took to get there. Parade is the longest song on the album with one of the most involved lyrical journeys painted in typically vague and poetic detail. It's also one of the deepest instrumental arrangements I've ever heard on a Parannoul song with wandering strings, slinky chimes, and clapping percussion that helps fill out the impressive details. It also helps that the song is set up for climactic eruptions time and time again, really tapping into something that Parannoul does so well.
The second half of the record is a bit scrappier and more inconsistent but it still has some huge highlights. Imagination gets back to the shorter stature of things and I like it a LOT. The whirlwind of sweet sounds with pummeling distortion perfectly matches the song's steady angst over growing older and the tailspin of great moments. I also really enjoy Blossom which delivers triumphant horns and returns the synths and chimes from Parade. On top of all that, there are some rumbling drums that are enough on their own to grab me. The track also features some of the most depressing lyrics on the entire record as Parannoul describes wishing he could never wake up from a dream he's having with someone who he can never see again awake. Much like White Ceiling before it, the repetition of the refrains really feels like raising stakes and the song sounded better and better to me every time as a result.
Sound Inside Me, Waves Inside You is a great title for a song but I was hoping for a bit more of an explanation on the lyrical side. The details about growing older and falling in love are too specific and poetic to not be based on something real, but they're still so light on meaningful details that add to any kind of narrative. The perfect opportunity for that comes in the song's cloudy synth arrangements and the gentle sway of its strings but the lyrics never get any more detailed. Regardless of the emotional conclusion it builds to with crashing cymbals and rising background vocals brings everything to a blistering noisy conclusion that still sounds great. Closing track After The Magic makes a lot of sense thematically as it feels like Parannoul not only telling their love interest they can move on, but also seemingly reflecting that sentiment back onto themselves. While it may be the least sonically interesting song on the record I think you could also read that as finding thematic clarity through the lyrics. Regardless I think it works well as a finale even if it isn't my favorite song of the bunch.
The only song on the record I really don't enjoy is Sketchbook which is probably the biggest sonic experiment Parannoul goes through on the record, at least relative to expectations. It's the only song here where the "beat" is more prominent than the guitars and the manipulated vocals feel like a calculated answer to that decision. Of course, there's still something distinctly lo-fi to the mixing of the song and the distortion weaved in. While I don't think it's impossible for Parannoul to make a great song in this lane, I'm just not crazy about the results here. I'll be the first person to admit that my favorite part of the song is when all the synthetic instrumentation drains out and the vocals just wail out into space. The style is only one of the reasons why this is the weakest song here, but it's a big one.
So let's cut through the excitement and take stock of where we are. This album lacks the youthful immediacy of To See The Next Part Of The Dream, whose brash instrumentation and extensive self-hatred hit me like a sledgehammer in 2021. But it's not just pure subtraction, in its place there's much more self-reflection and emotional contemplation to be considered. The result is an album that feels thematically more mature, but no less emotional. Sonically the record feels like less of a constant eruption of angsty through distorted noise and more like a songwriters expose which picks only its right moments to dial up the volume. While I might not like this album as much as Parannoul's previous it's a real artistic progression that shows just how much potential Parannoul has going forward to be a force in indie and lo-fi music. 7.5/10
For more indie check out my review of Jockstrap's I Love You Jennifer B here
