Music Reviews

Pure magic.

Look, if you’ve followed this page for a while now you will know that Parannoul is a project that I’ve been passionate about since it’s inception – from their debut album „To See the Next Part of the Dream“ which ranked I think number 3 at my year end list of best albums of 2021 to their colaborations with Asian Glow and their latest full length LP „After the Magic“, Parannoul’s output has been one hit after another. So when I saw that this, an hour and a half long live album with a 40 minute closing track, which also happens to be one of my personal favorite tracks from the band, I knew that this was gonna be something just out of this world. And well I got basically exactly what I expected – nothing could have prepared me for that last track though, that one deserves a whole review in of itself.

Going through this track by track is kinda pointless since all the songs are basically already existing songs just played live, however I will still say a few things about those before I get to the cream of the pie (that being the final track) – first of the song choices are absolutely brilliant here – not a single song on here feels like it shouldn’t have been here, everything flows into each other almost seemlesly and it all feels super lively and vivid, the live setting really brings these songs to new heights. Like the opener „Polaris“ just sounds absolutely beautiful and out of this world and immediately immerses you in this spacey other-worldly atmosphere that never leaves throughout the entire journey that is this album. It is immediately followed by one of my other personal favorite songs from Parannoul „Beautiful World“ that is really brought to exceptional heights here. The pianos are as beautiful as ever here and the guitars just have this extra power to them that the studio recordings are just missing. I think the only song I wasn’t like immediately instantly in love with was the song „Imagination“ not a bad song in any way, it just didn’t grip my ear as instantnly as some of the other songs here and the more I listened to it the more it clicked with me, I just think it’s the only song here without any like instantly recognizable qualities to it, it’s still fantastic and magical while it’s on but I don’t really find myself having this one stuck in my head as often as some of the others.

… Ok well let’s get to the reason I’m actually talking about this project. Don’t get me wrong, all the live songs up to this point have been if not anything else really great and all of them sound spetacular but what the last 40 minute song on this album accomplishes I haven’t heard since maybe the „LONG SEASON“ live song by Fishmans. And yeah If you’ve been on the internet anywhere where this album is discussed this comparison is right about the first thing that gets thrown in your face and even though I do think it’s valid, the emotional connection I get with this song is honestly more than I get with that Fishman’s song. I mean if there ever was to be an 11/10 it would honestly be this song for me, it’s really that good. Not good, it’s just… Unreal. Like I get chills everytime I’m hearing it. It evokes so many feelings at once and I just can’t help but absolutely love it for that. It undergoes so many phases and transitions yet still remains unmastikably itself and I think that’s kind of beautiful. And yes, it requires a lot of patienece but the multiple pay-offs this song has are more than worth it. And the guitars on this oh my GOD the guitars are the reason I wake up in the morning, like there are so many things happening at one but the guitars still stand out as just absolutely insane. Like sitting just through this entire song at once is a JOURNEY. Like legitemately I don’t get an experience like this from many movies and this is just a one song on a live album. The strings towards the end of the song are also just… No I can’t with this song, if you haven’t heard it yet just do yourself the favor of at least once sitting through it, I guarantee you you won’t regret it.

Now here comes the real dilema… Because this album is undoubtedly in my eyes AT LEAST a strong 9/10… BUT do I really think it’s a 10 overall? I mean the last song alone is basically like an 11 but this isn’t just that last song no matter how spectacular that one is… But the more I think about it, this project’s music has just been one of my favorite things I discovered in the last few years throughout the mountains on mountains of new music I discovered and to be perfectly honest, this album feels like the amalgamation of all of that into one cohesive emotionally powerful larger-than-life project that just delivers on all fronts and has literally no duds whatsoever. If that isn’t a 10/10 than I don’t know what is. So with that being said…

-favorite tracks: all, ESPECIALLY Into the Endless Nights

-least favorite tracks: Imagination (IF I HAD TO CHOOSE)

10/10

So apparently saying the same word over and over and making some of it’s parts longer ISN’T considered a review… But everyone who has heard this thing KNOWS that that is the only appropriate way to react to this album: WHAAA- (ok I said I’m actually not gonna do that again this time). So yeah, this thing is great – it’s only February but I’m pretty sure no record this year is gonna top this one right here. It’s everything and more I ever wanted from the band and with the context of Isaac Wood leaving the band to focus on his mental health it hits even harder than I innitially thought. So I’m gonna do my best at breaking down why I think this is an absolute masterpiece, but truly and honestly no words could do this thing justice, you gotta hear it to believe it.

Every track here packs a different emotional punch and every single one of them is unique in their own way (except maybe the intro and „Mark’s Theme“, but even that is such an unbelievably beautiful piece to the puzzle) and yet they mash together seemlessly creating a gorgeous cohesive story that flows from one track to another like a knife through butter (which rhymed, so it must be true). Anyways as I said the intro track (simply called „Intro“) is probably the weakest of the bunch – I do believe it has it’s rightful place on the album as it sets the tone fairly well and serves as a pretty smooth transition into the next tracl (which we’ll get into in a bit), but considering how the last record didn’t waste anytime in letting messing around with it’s opener, then this is kind of a step-down from that. Then again this album is much more different and I believe ultimately better expirience than that album was, so I can turn a blind eye toit and move on to the real first track of the album, which is „Chaos Space Marine“ and oh my god what a name for a song. This is probably the „happiest“ sounding song on the album and I think it’s very well placed here because it showcases many of the album’s main sound palates aswell as getting you hyped for what’s about to come. Also this and many other songs on this album are huge growers – like innitially I didn’t really care for this cut but it won me over as I gave it more listens and thank god I did, because it has become one of my favorites of the whole album and believe me when I say that the bar is set really high. I LOVE how diverse this song is – there is constantly something new being added in and new sounds and melodies being brought up, it’s constantly evolving and you never know what to expect – „Chaos Space Marine“ is honestly how this song feels, it’s chaotic and it just feels like a giant space marine for some reason – really hit the nail on the head with the name on this one. The next song „Concorde“ is where the album truly begins to reveal it’s true colors and you hear the shift in the sound instantly – it’s much more moody, much more dreary and much more soft. This whole song is like a giant build-up to the huge crescendo at the end and honestly I can’t really complain about anything I’m hearing here – unlike the last song, this is much more focused and much more serious and as a result I start taking it more seriously. The instrumental is gentle, slowly building in it’s power and just it’s sheer volume until it hits that peak where it feels like the emotional struggle has just become too much to handle. Isaac Wood’s vocal performance nad lyrics portray this feeling of hopelesness really well, it’s like you can hear the pain through the lyrics – it’s once again one of my favorite moments on the record (you’re probably gonna hear this a lot throughout the review, so get used to it lol). „Bread Song“ is kind of like the calm after the storm if you will and essentially consists of two parts – the first one being just really gentle guitar plucking with Isaac’s broken lyrics over it that colapse together into this beautiful musical blanket that you just never leave – and then when you think it can’t get any better than this the drums kick in and oh my god, what a moment that is. The song becomes much more colorful with it’s instruments and suddenly it feels like you’ve been transported to a different dimension – again, just an insane display of musicianship and musical mastery. Isaac again flexes his lyrical abilities here, talking about a crumbling relationship reffering to it as „bread crumbs“ (hence the name „Bread Song“), just some really smart analogies and once the weight of it all hits you – it hits you. „Good Will Hunting“ is the first non-single song on the album (not counting in the intro) and is also where I was starting to get worried at first – what if they manage to screw it up somehow? Well I should have had more faith in the group, because this song is on the same level as those songs are – I adore the female vocalist supporting Isaac’s broken voice and how it compliments the pounding piano with the kickdrums and everything – again, just the way they blend all of this together sounds like it shouldn’t work on paper but they just manage to pull it of regardless. I also love how really just intense the second part of the song, it has to be one of Wood’s best vocal performances on the whole record – also I don’t know what effect they used on the guitars here but they sound out of this world, it really helps portray this feeling of just completely loosing it. Once again, the lyrics talk about a failing relationship, possibly unrequited love and the struggles that come with that – it’s just so incredibly saddening. „Haldern“ is definetly one of my favorite musical moments on the album – again serving as sort of a calm after the strom, this track has some really breath-taking piano leads, really gives many of the usually more hidden members of the band a moment to shine – and when the saxophones (?) are added in? I mean it takes the song from „great“ to „MAGNIFICENT“. Also the way the saxophone sounds for the majority of the second part of that song reminds me of Clown Core for some reason, just thouht I mention that- never really though I’d be mentioning Clown Core in a review about BC, NR but here we are. „Mark’s Theme“ is a song I don’t have much to say about to be honest, it’s more of a interlude then a song really – it at least gives you some breahting space, before the final three asolute titans of tracks. Speaking of which the next song is „The Place Where He Inserted the Blade“ and I’m gonna be honest here – this is my favorite song not only of the whole album, but of the year so far. For many people it’s the closer „Basketball Shoes“ and I get that, that song is insane – but this one just really felt like a blade inserted into my heart, because it really cut deep. And I know that may sound a little too melo-dramatic, but that’s this record in a nutshell – it embraces it and you can much more easily put yourself in the shoes of the protagonist of this story (basketball shoes if you will). And I mean it, this song is everythin and I mean everything I ever wanted from this group – it’s raw, it packs a punch, it has layers, it’s colorful and insrumentally rich, it’s desperate and yet comforting in a way and it feels like the weight of the world collapsing on top of you and you are powerless to stop it. The choice of chords is absolutely astonishing and fits the song perfectly and everything feels like it’s placed in it’s right place. After this absolute emotional drain you are comoforted with „Snow Globes“, a 9 minute opus to heal your wounds and give you even the slightest glimmer of hope that things are gonna be okay at the end, even though it hurts like hell – you’re gonna be alright. That’s at least how the song feels to me, lyrically it’s much more deeper than that, but after the emotional rollercoaster you expirience with this album this I feel as is the protagonist being at his absolute lowest but still choosing to keep going in hope of things getting better – and that’s how this song feels to me. I would especially like to highlight the drumwork on this song, it is really impressive and fits the chaotic nature of this album super well. Now for the final song „Basketball Shoes“ – yeah I mean duh, it’s good. I think people calling this already the SONG OF THE DECADE is a bit of a stretch, but there is an argument to be made about the significance and the impact this song has and proaly will hae. It feels like the perfect climax to this album and is THE emotional highpoint of the album for many – which I totally get, I just slighly prefer „The Place…“, but that’s just me. Still a fantastic song and a perfect way to wrap this album up – like you know an album is good when the first thing you do after finnishing listening to it is play it again.

Wow, I wish I wrote this good in my school essays… But like in those I’m kinda lost for words right now. This album really blew my already insanely high expectations out of the water – I have really high doubts that any album this year is gonna come even close to the magnificence of this project. An absolute emotional journey from the start to finnish, I honestly can’t give this album anything but that sweet sweet…

Strong 9/10

…

just kidding, here’s how I would actually rate it:

-favorite tracks: Chaos Space Marine, Concorde, Bread Song, Good Will Hunting, Haldern, The Place Where He Inserted the Blade, Snow Globes, Basketball Shoes

-least favorite tracks: Intro (if I had to pick one)

10/10

WHAT.

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA *inhale* AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT.

WHAT.

10/10

It finally clicked.

4 months. That’s how long I was trying to get into this album, but for some reason just couldn’t. I was going crazy – everyone around me was calling this the easy album of the year and I was just sitting over here not understanding the hype at all. But today that changed – I finally just sat down and listened to it, no pre-judgements, just turn all my attention to the music and it’s meaning – and it was at the 5th track „Ground Zero“ where this record just suddenly made complete sense. You see, this album doesn’t make NO sense whatsoever, BUT THAT’S WHY IT WORKS. This album really makes you question what even music is. It doesn’t try to follow any musical formulas, it doesn’t follow basically any genre restrictions, it just does what it wants and that is to musically express grief – grief is the main focus of this record and the hardships and struggles that come with loosing someone really close to you. The feeling of how the world just keeps spinning even though you still haven’t dealt with your loss – all of that becomes apparent on track seven, „Top Picks For You“, AKA the first, and probably also the last, glitch hop song to ever make me break down into tears. Once you get to this point in the album there is no turning back, everything just clicks, but it’s not an easy journey to get there – the opposite in fact. The world that the album creates through it’s music is dark, glitched, fundamentally broken and just incredibly tough to swallow. There is constantly this paranoid feeling that something is a little off and that feeling haunts you throughout the whole listening expirience. And what an expirience it is, I don’t think any album this year has made me so just… emotionally drenched. Now I personally never lost anyone that I was super emotionally tied to, so for me, I can’t even IMAGINE how horiffying of an expirience that must be, but if it’s even half as bad as this album’s sound is portraying it to be, then good god. It’s hard to talk about each individual track here, because the expirience works as a whole and taking individual tracks out just isn’t how this album is supposed to be listened to – it’s a journey through the grieving mind, a painful f***ed-up journey, that ends on a somewhat of a hopeful note, in the form of the song „Bye Strom“. This song says to the listener to keep their head up, that even though that someone else’s journey came to an end, doesn’t mean your own does too, even if that person was super imporant to you – „the show must go on“. And even though it may take weeks, months or hell even years, eventually, you will move on. It doesn’t try to downplay the grieving process, it let’s you very well know that it will be incredibly difficult and painful – but not impossible.

Now I got a little too introspective there, but it’s crucial to undestand all of this in order to truly appriciate how powerful this record really is. The music’s dark, it’s distorted, it doesn’t make no sense in some places, but it’s clear that it’s all calculated and intentional, I haven’t heard a depiction of grief this accurate since I think „A Crow Looked At Me“. Some key tracks would be the opener „Outside“, which is an ambitious opener that really lets the listener know, that what you’re about to hear is nothing short of insane, both singles „Knees“ and „Superman That“, the first of the two being one of the more accessible tracks on the album, while the latter being funnily enough one of the least accessible ones and also the track „Footwork in a Forest Fire“ which is honestly kind of beyond words, it’s one of those things where you gotta expirience it to truly understand it – that also kinda goes for this whole album to be honest.

… s**t. I mean this album broke me. I can’t even put into words what this music does to you, but it’s really something to behold… Anyways yeah, I see the hype now lol (also I realise this probably should have been a disclaimer at the start of the review, but I usually like to keep the swears out of my reviews, but with this one I felt like it really helped to express how truly just f***ed this album is).

10/10