Music Reviews

Parannoul has done it again.

It should come as no surprise that I adore this band – if you’ve read my review of the band’s last solo studio album „To See the Next Part of the Dream“, that came out in 2021, you know I absolutely loved what the band accomplished there. The pure musical euphoria that album brought me was unmatched by almost anything I’ve heard that year, the seemless blend of shoegaze and dream pop and all other sorts of things resulted in, what’s at least in my eyes, one of the best albums of this decade so far. So it’s safe to say that the expectations I had for this album were set very high but I’m very pleased to report that for the most part they were very much met.

Right of the back I have to say that Parannoul is once again bringing their A-game when it comes to choosing album covers that match the sound – TSTNPOTD had a much more colorful and clear album cover and the sound of the album reflected that perfectly, it really did feel like a beautiful dream. So if that album felt like a warm cozy dream, this feels like the moment after when you wake up. Like the musical emodiment of a cold harsh winter, thinking about the beautiful warm summer. And I gotta say nothing is a more fitting example of that than the first three song on this album. First off we have the opener „Polaris“ – it kicks off with a lush somber guitar playing with only the singing humming a singing over it. Then in typical Parannoul fashion the at-first programmed drums come in with a bunch of orchestral strings backing it all up and it all resolves in this beautiful picture that’s being painted with the music. And then it just… Stops. And OUT OF NOWHERE this giant wave of just so much going on comes clashing right in, overtaking the entire song. And I don’t mean this lightly when I say that it really feels larger than life. All of that builds up right back into the chorus that was first shown in the opening of the song but this time with the whole band giving it their all and comes together just so effortlessly and beautifully, I can’t say enough good things about this song honestly. After that we have the song „Insomnia“ which builds up on the last song very nicely. The trademark Parannoul piano melody that’s being repeated throught this entire song really gives of strong „Beautiful World“ vibes. The song maybe isn’t as grand per se as the last one, but I maybe enjoy it even more then I do the last song – it’s just such a solid vibe throughout it’s entire runtime. The melodies are so gorgeous and it all feels strangely nostalgic – there also just isn’t a second wasted with this song, the structure of it is so free and unpredictable yet strangely logical, Parannoul just have this ability to make the most in theory complicated things seem so easy and effortless. Definetly another one of my favorites. And to finnish this insane three track run off, we have the song „Arrival“, that puts a bit of a spin on the Parannoul formula with them incorporating more horns on this song that work surprisingly well with this sound. I mean they are horns they sound good in basically any context bu once again Parannoul finds a way to make them really stand out and make them sound very pleasant to the ears at the same time. Which brings me to my next point, which is that I really have to commend Parannoul here for really letting loose on the experimentation on this album – it all still sounds very much like Parannoul but you can clearly hear that they are much more comfortable with their sound and aren’t afraid to try new things. Like this song in particular has a very strong GY!BE vibe towards the end of it, like insanely so, it’s definetly one of the most crazy musical moments on this entire album. Anyways next up we have the song „We Shine At Night“ which is like the definition of „the calm after the storm“ – the whole song is very light-hearted and more I guess down to earth and although I tend to skip it sometimes, when I don’t get pulled into it right away, I still think it overall adds to the album experience. It’s also a nice stepping stone between Arrival and the next song „Parade“ which is almost like a two part experience – the first half is similar to the previous song, but I think this one has a little more kick to it, the orchestral elements on this song especially are something to take note off, they seriously elevate the song to completely new heights. However the real magic with this song lies within the sudden build up to the second part of the song which only improves the song further and makes it really feel like the whole package. Also the transition from this song to „Sketchbook“ is like as smooth as it gets. And look, I understand that for some this song may not be as ground-breaking or I guess as what you would expect from Parannoul, but I have to say I was once again pleasantly surprised by this one – it’s definetly a lot different from the typical Parannoul style and I guess there is the criticism that it does drag on a bit too long and doesn’t have all that much to show for it, but I still just have to respect the willingness to go out of their comfort zone and try to experiment. So yeah, maybe not the most exciting song on here but in my humble opinion still a pretty solid addition to the track list. Next up we have the song „Imagination“ that is much more low-key and shorter then some of the other songs on here and while it is still very good I honestly could probably have it removed from this album and not much would really change about the experience for me, even though the outro is as expected again really cool. „Sounds Inside Me, Waves Inside You“ is the next track and I don’t have much to say about this one, not because it’s bad but it’s just kinda forgetable – it does feature a really cool kind of breakdown/bridge in the middle of the song that’s really unexpected but once again keeps the whole album feeling really fresh. That’s one thing with this album, you never really get bored when listening to it, even if you don’t love every idea presented to you, the album just keeps evolving and going through so many different ideas that eventually something is just bound to click with you, although admittedly with a few exceptions the first half of this album really out-shines the second in my opinion. „Blossom“ is the next song and again I’m grateful that it’s on here, but nothing about it really sticks with me that much – the phases this song undergoes are impressive even for this album though and the horns from earlier make another appearence here + there are some legitemately insane vocal passages towards the end of the song that sound almost emo-ish, which again, more versatility. Things do pick up pretty substantially with the closing song and also the title track „After the Magic“ which has probably the prettiest intro to any song on this thing, the variety of strings and synths always transport me to like a different realm of existence. The rest of the song also feels very climactic and like the end to a movie and the strings are just… Out of this world, they really make you FEEL like this is the ending credits to just I don’t l´know life or whatever corny thing – look it’s just really good okay?

So yeah, that was „After the Magic“ by Parannoul. Honestly I don’t have much of an outro to go along with this (I’m not as good at those as Parannoul are unfortunately) but this is just another really great album from Parannoul, that’s about all you need to know. For me personally it didn’t quite reach the highs of TSTNPOTD but it was still an amazing other-worldly experience that I highly suggest you give a shot.

-favorite tracks: yes

-least favorite tracks: parts of some of the songs in the second half

Strong 8/10