Paramore – Paramore
Paramore’s
self-titled album has been anticipated by critics and musos everywhere ever
since brothers Josh and Zac Farro left the band for inconclusive reasons. It
was evident that the sound was going to change as Josh was a key writer in the
band’s creative process which left Hayley Williams and Taylor York to do the
most part of the writing. Whatever the outcome was going to be, Paramore fans
knew that the bands fourth instalment to their studio discography was going to
be something special.
The
thing I immediately notice about this album is the production efforts that have
gone into the guitars. Taylor has used a phenomenal amount of tones throughout
the duration of the album and even multiple tones in single songs in most
cases. This constantly changing sound adds to a general aesthetic ambience of
the album, but to be frank it pisses me off at some points. I'm not saying this
is a bad decision, but I loved the combination of heavy driven rhythm lead from
Taylor and that cutting edge lead from Josh that made Paramore a band that had
oomph. I guess that is one of the differences that comes with the departure of
the Farro's. Having said that there are some great tones in the album like
those driving power chords in the chorus of 'Now' and those eerie lead lines in
the bridge of 'Part II'. Simplicity has also played a huge part in the writing
if the guitars on this album, especially in the hit single 'Still Into You'
which the main riff of the song is simply a major 7th arpeggio. Also the most
part of the chorus uses a simple 3 chord progression of IV-V-I which is easy to
write catchy melodies to. Overall, Taylor has grasped the role of being the
only guitarist quite well and will be successful with Paramore if he continues
to use this ingenuity.
Hayley Williams never ceases to amaze me with her vocal ability. She explores different vocal styles on this album from the very pop like sounds on 'Still Into You' to almost a funk and soul feel on 'Ain't It Fun'. This song was far from Paramore's previous genre endeavours with instrumentation including occasional synth keys and a gospel sounding vocal group. Aside from additional vocals Hayley still delivers beautiful melodies in differing ranges and those wonderful sustained notes we are well acquainted with from previous albums. The lyrical themes on Paramore don't travel too deep with most of the album's themes being about relationships and band members' experiences.
The format of this album is one I found quite interesting. It's divided by 3 interludes named 'Moving On', 'Holiday' and 'Moving On' each of which don't exceed a minute and a half in duration and only include reverb filled lead vocals and ukulele with one inclusion of bass. The interludes don’t seem to split up the album into different sections of genre, lyrical themes or storyline so an evident purpose for these tracks seems to be lacking. However, they do provide a nice break between the constantly changing moods of tracks on the album.
The
album’s constant changing feel is something that Paramore have slightly
experimented before in their previous three albums, but never with such
intensity. One minute you’re dancing to a fun pop-rock jam then next minute you’re
jumping up and down to a powerful alt-rock thrasher with striking crash cymbals
and a wall of distorted guitar. One song in particular that seemed like a fun
experiment for Paramore was ‘Anklebiters’. It packs a punch in 2 minutes 18
seconds of swung 16th note alt rock with smashing drum fills between
open hi-hat beats and feedback guitars as well as shouted group vocals which
rock anyone’s socks. Influence of this song for me sounded like it came from
the likes of the emerging Of Monsters and Men, but with an increased energy and
more power embedded in the instruments. This track always lightens the mood and
gets my body into the music.
The
band have delivered a great fourth album and set themselves up for an enjoyable
world tour playing these brilliant songs as well as their previous killer
tracks. The current trio are being joined by a bunch of temporary musicians for
the tours around the globe, but may settle on some new permanent members before
the next time they head into the studio. I managed to catch Paramore at
Soundwave this year and will be heading to their Perth concert on the 2014
Australian tour with You Me At Six and twenty one pilots, which should prove to
be a fantastic evening.
Buy
the album here:
Watch
the music video for the hit single ‘Still Into You’ here:
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