After the Magic

Parannoul is an artist I've heard two projects from and fairly enjoyed them both. White Ceiling made my honorable mentions of the best albums of the 2022 video. Downfall Of The Neon Youth was pretty good but was dragged down a little bit by the two collaborating artists that I wasn't a fan of at all (Asian Glow, sonhos tomam conta). So I was kind of excited about this new record, but also not too much. So, was After The Magic good?

This is EASILY, I mean easily his best album, by far. It's more Indie Rock and less Black-Gaze/Emo, and as much as I love BlackGaze and Emo, I feel like this style fits Parannoul the best. The songs are so epic, and melodic and have so much beautiful driving force behind them, it's hard to not get lost in it completely.

The production is fantastic, the song structures are mindblowing and while I always thought the vocals were the weakest point of Parannoul's music, I really liked them here. They didn't take away from the music. As I feel on White Ceiling, they made the instrumentation less enjoyable, otherwise, it would've definitely cracked my top 10. That's not the case on this album. I still think the instrumentation and the production are easily the highest points of the album and the main reason I love it, but the vocals add to it, instead of taking from it, which is great to hear.

You can tell he has really outdone himself with this one. Just listen to the 2nd half of Arrival. The first part was cool and all, but It didn't really blow me away, little did I know it was just the build-up to one of the most satisfying climaxes I've heard in Shoegaze/Indie Rock in recent years. There's so much energy and melody to it and it thoroughly keeps me entertained all the way through.

The track We Shine at Night HEAVILY reminds me of Ok Computer, there was definitely a Radiohead influence here, which is obviously awesome. Not my favorite song from the album but it's still great. I wasn't crazy about it as a single, but in the context of the album, It really fits.

Polaris sets the tone perfectly. I was honestly kind of speechless after listening to it, it starts off the album in the best way possible. Easily one of the best songs here if not the best one.

After The Magic is a perfect closer.

The whole vibe of this album is just so pleasant, yet so energetic and alive. It's really a fantastic listen. Listening to this after I heard his previous albums really adds to my enjoyment because this album really crushes anything Parannoul has released in the past (although I haven't heard To See the Next Part of the Dream so I'll have to listen to that one). The second half is substantially weaker, and the first 3 songs are easily the best, but still a really good album.

Obviously not perfect, but I still enjoyed this heavily, best album of the year so far.

FAV TRACKS: Polaris, Arrival, Insomnia, After The Magic
LEAST FAV TRACKS: Sketchbook