An Album a Day is posted 5 days a week, Monday-Friday
Today we’re looking at former pop punk band Paramore’s latest foray into pop, After Laughter. Given Paramore’s pop punk roots, a switch to a new wave inspired sound to stay viable actually makes a lot of sense. Given new wave’s status as cleaned up and family friendly punk rock as well as the recent resurgence of 80’s music being popular this switch should work very well for Paramore.
Firstly, let me just say I was never a huge Paramore fan; I liked most of their hits but every time I'd listen to their deeper cuts off the albums I would always get bored quickly. In fairness, that's how I felt about most pop punk and emo bands of the 2000s, from Fall Out Boy to My Chemical Romance I always found the deeper cuts to be lacking. The only album by those sort of bands I liked the whole way through was Panic! At The Disco’s latest album Death of a Bachelor.
Over the course of listening to Paramore I've found tha the handful of songs I like from them I absolutely love, but everything is else is kind of forgettable. Needless to say I wasn't expecting much from this album; I really like the lead single Hard Times, but I usually do like their singles. Hard Times was still way more interesting than most of Paramore’s music because it promised a manic depressed 80’s new wave tribute sound across the album. That genre, and the way they handled it on Hard Times did give me hope that this album would be strong all the way through.
After listening to the full album I find myself torn. Part of me really likes the new wave sound throughout the album, the added synths and funk bass lines absolutely match Paramore perfectly. But part of me feels the same about this album as every other Paramore album. Despite the new wave polish they sound exactly like Paramore always has to me, pretty average with occasionally great songs.
For some reason, even with replacing the punk guitars with synths and funk bass most of this album felt just as familiar as anything else Paramore have done. Don't get me wrong it’s a solid album with 4 or 5 really good songs on it, but the stuff that isn't really good feels almost like background noise to me. Just like their past albums, I either get bored with the worse songs or just forget them as soon as they end.
The highlights are Hard Times, Rose Colored Boy, Pool, Grudges and Caught In The Middle. Hard Times and Pool are the most blatantly 80’s tracks on this album, combing really cool synths that sound like a mix of xylophone and wind chimes with a funk bassline and drum beat. The guitar is pretty sparse on these tracks, adding texture rather than being the main instrument, but it works perfectly within the context of the song.
Rose Colored Boy, Grudges and Caught In The Middle are an interesting mix of punk and new wave. These tracks mix more aggressive guitar riffing reminiscent of their early album with the new wave inspired sound of this album. These tracks feel like the best of both worlds for Paramore, keeping the aggression of their early sound and mixing it with the elegance of their poppier sound. To me, this is Paramore at their best.
I'd have to say this album is a mixed bag to me; featuring some of my favorite Paramore songs as well as ones I forget even exist the moment they stop. The blend of new wave with their sound works better than a lot of what they've tried before, but a lot of tracks just sound like filler between the great tracks. Ultimately I think this album is worth a listen, but after one listen I simply pick out the 5 tracks I like and pretend the rest don’t exist.
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