4th July 2024 (fuck it hasn't been 24 hours since my last thread)
Parannoul - After the Magic
Shoegaze, South Korean, 2023
I've been quite a big fan of shoegaze despite barely listening to any of it. Yet, this artist has found itself on my radar, through a random youtube recommendation.
I liked this album compared to Parannoul's previous album (which I have not covered in this thread but I will one day). While their previous album felt like more straightforward shoegaze, this album really feels like Parannoul is coming into their own, with a sound that is not shoegaze, but Parannoul. A lot of this was to do with the more expansive range of instrumentation, and the songs which felt more fresh and creative. Outside of the 3rd song 도착 (Arrival) which sounded a bit awkward there wasn't any real lul in the album, which is something I can't say about their previous album.
I listened to Parannoul's previous album, To See the Next Part of the Dream, a lot while I was in Korea, during the winter. I remember taking long walks through the cold streets and parks, watching people walk by and live their lives, while bathing in the sounds of the music. I think it defined a lot of my experience while I was there, and the reason I bring this up is that this album also touches me in a similar way, and brings back the memories and feelings of those walks.
Adding to this, I found myself connecting to some of the lyrics, especially the during the explosion in Parade at 25:52, because that's literally just me walking around Korea lol. I think that this album is really cool in the way it's something in the present that feels so relevant to me personally, something I don't think I could've had with this album had it come out at a different time or I had listened to it sometime in the future. The introspection about growing up, especially as someone who is not a kid anymore but an adult, is something that I've experienced (and I'm guessing not just me lol), which I found is beautifully expressed in this album.
Though I will say I didn't pay too much attention to the lyrics, I had my eyes closed while listening to a lot of this, and I barely ever take much stock of lyrics when I listen to music anyway. Also the whole thing about dreams and stuff I didn't really care about. Also they mentioned "tunnels" several times, dunno what that's about, but I kinda wanted to mention it.
(Note from the future: The rating was changed to an 8/10 but the rhetoric behind the rating still stands because the 9/10 rating was kinda shifted to 8/10)
Overall I think I'll put this as a 9/10. I feel like according to my rating scale this should be 10/10 because it's technically one of my top 10 favourite albums I've rated so far, but I do know at least one album which is a 10/10 for me, and I think that and this are on different levels for me. Who knows, maybe the nostalgia plus a future perspective bumps this up to a 10/10 later, or maybe it gets bumped down to 8/10 because I find albums that I like even more.
9/10
(Note from the future: I listened to it a bit more and it's really grown on me, it's now a 10/10)
This is a very unsmooth transition but I also want to reflect a bit about the process of writing this entry. I feel like I wrote a lot because I had quite a lot to say, and if I'm going to be doing this every day I don't really want to be writing essays for every album I listen to. Maybe this is actually pretty brief for an album review type of thing, idk. I also know that it's pretty common to rate and talk about individual songs, but I'm probably not gonna bother going that far unless I want to point out particular songs for whatever reason, like how I pointed out 도착 (Arrival) was my least favourite. However, maybe I'll make an effort to point out my favourite song/s. For this album I wasn't really thinking about what my favourite song was, so I can't say it with conviction. However, I'd say it was Parade, but it's 100% gonna change once I listen to these songs more and get a real feel for them.
Parannoul - After the Magic
Shoegaze, South Korean, 2023
I've been quite a big fan of shoegaze despite barely listening to any of it. Yet, this artist has found itself on my radar, through a random youtube recommendation.
I liked this album compared to Parannoul's previous album (which I have not covered in this thread but I will one day). While their previous album felt like more straightforward shoegaze, this album really feels like Parannoul is coming into their own, with a sound that is not shoegaze, but Parannoul. A lot of this was to do with the more expansive range of instrumentation, and the songs which felt more fresh and creative. Outside of the 3rd song 도착 (Arrival) which sounded a bit awkward there wasn't any real lul in the album, which is something I can't say about their previous album.
I listened to Parannoul's previous album, To See the Next Part of the Dream, a lot while I was in Korea, during the winter. I remember taking long walks through the cold streets and parks, watching people walk by and live their lives, while bathing in the sounds of the music. I think it defined a lot of my experience while I was there, and the reason I bring this up is that this album also touches me in a similar way, and brings back the memories and feelings of those walks.
Adding to this, I found myself connecting to some of the lyrics, especially the during the explosion in Parade at 25:52, because that's literally just me walking around Korea lol. I think that this album is really cool in the way it's something in the present that feels so relevant to me personally, something I don't think I could've had with this album had it come out at a different time or I had listened to it sometime in the future. The introspection about growing up, especially as someone who is not a kid anymore but an adult, is something that I've experienced (and I'm guessing not just me lol), which I found is beautifully expressed in this album.
Though I will say I didn't pay too much attention to the lyrics, I had my eyes closed while listening to a lot of this, and I barely ever take much stock of lyrics when I listen to music anyway. Also the whole thing about dreams and stuff I didn't really care about. Also they mentioned "tunnels" several times, dunno what that's about, but I kinda wanted to mention it.
(Note from the future: The rating was changed to an 8/10 but the rhetoric behind the rating still stands because the 9/10 rating was kinda shifted to 8/10)
Overall I think I'll put this as a 9/10. I feel like according to my rating scale this should be 10/10 because it's technically one of my top 10 favourite albums I've rated so far, but I do know at least one album which is a 10/10 for me, and I think that and this are on different levels for me. Who knows, maybe the nostalgia plus a future perspective bumps this up to a 10/10 later, or maybe it gets bumped down to 8/10 because I find albums that I like even more.
9/10
(Note from the future: I listened to it a bit more and it's really grown on me, it's now a 10/10)
This is a very unsmooth transition but I also want to reflect a bit about the process of writing this entry. I feel like I wrote a lot because I had quite a lot to say, and if I'm going to be doing this every day I don't really want to be writing essays for every album I listen to. Maybe this is actually pretty brief for an album review type of thing, idk. I also know that it's pretty common to rate and talk about individual songs, but I'm probably not gonna bother going that far unless I want to point out particular songs for whatever reason, like how I pointed out 도착 (Arrival) was my least favourite. However, maybe I'll make an effort to point out my favourite song/s. For this album I wasn't really thinking about what my favourite song was, so I can't say it with conviction. However, I'd say it was Parade, but it's 100% gonna change once I listen to these songs more and get a real feel for them.