Reviews

파란노을 [Parannoul] “After the Night” Album Review

After the Night

파란노을 [Parannoul]

  • Genre: K-Pop
  • Date: 25 Mar 2023
  • Content: Cleaned
  • Region: Worldwide
  • Track(s): 08
  • ℗ 2023 Topshelf

파란노을 [Parannoul] &Quot;After The Night&Quot; Album Review, Yours Truly, Reviews, March 28, 2024

A South Korean artist known only as Parannoul, born in 2001, plays shoegaze music. His three solo recordings are let’s Walk on the Path of a Blue Cat (2020), To See the Next Part of the Dream (2021), and After the Magic. (2023). Along with Asian Glow and Sonhos Tomam Conta, he also issued the shoegaze split album Downfall of the Neon Youth (2021). Parannoul has also published music under other aliases, including several now-deleted albums such as Laststar and Rough and Beautiful Place (2022) as Mydreamfever.

A companion live album titled After the Night was revealed by an unnamed South Korean shoegaze artist (Parannoul) two months after the release of After the Magic. After the Night was recorded on 14 Jan 2023 at the KT&G Sangsangmadang Live Hall and includes Parannoul on keyboards and vocals, Yo and BrokenTeeth on guitars, Asian Glow on bass, 9SuK on drums, and Fin Fior on trumpet.

Parannoul has amassed a sizable discography in the past few years, progressing from posting music to Bandcamp to releasing “After the Magic” via emo legends Topshelf Records. On the list of the Top 15 Emo Albums of the Past 15 Years was 2021’s LP “To See the Next Part of the Dream.”

Album Art

파란노을 [Parannoul] &Quot;After The Night&Quot; Album Review, Yours Truly, Reviews, March 28, 2024

After The Night’s album cover is simply an image of a lot of lush green vegetation with strange lines running through it to give the impression that it is an old, hazy photograph. It’s safe to assume that the album art is attempting to suggest that the paths of this album are evergreen in their own right, given the tracklist’s composition of popular songs from his previous album.

Tracks and Features

“Polaris,” from After the Magic, serves as the performance’s opening cut before the band transitions into older Parannoul songs like “White Ceiling,” “Beautiful World,” and “Analog Sentimentalism.” Even a recorded film of the performance is included in the release, but don’t look for any musicians’ names because the stage lighting conceals them all.

While the remaining five songs in the set featured a live band, the first five songs were played solo. Parannoul has since unintentionally released a live album of the complete band performance, which includes a 46-minute version of their 9-minute 2022 single “Into the Endless Night.”

For “Into the Endless Night,” the band’s lineup included Parannoul on vocals and piano, Asian Glow (with whom Parannoul has done two splits) on bass, Yo on guitar, BrokenTeeth on guitar, 9SuK on drums, and Fin Fior on trumpet. Its title, After the Night, was given to an album and a video.

Although ‘After the Night’s’ rocky reference points—ambient music from the early home computing era, shoegaze’s drum N bass software update, and various phases of J-pop incorporating cutting-edge electronics—collapse the nostalgia wormhole, it suggests that perhaps in the future, 2023 will also be fondly remembered as the good old days. The album instead appears to tell the tale of a lost, depressed mind that is aching for change and searching for a different world while making do in the here and now. The final piece on the album opens with some synth and piano chords and soft percussion. The track has the perfect amount of euphoria, particularly considering that the lyrics hint at the end of the good vibes and tell the listener to “spread wings, through the darkness, and make a wish.” Love, sorrow, and a desire to be remembered can all be heard in this song. The backing voices and musical accompaniment mesh perfectly. After more than 46 minutes of play, the sounds offer a surreal experience as the listening journey comes to a calming but fading conclusion.

Tracklist

  1. 북극성 (Polaris)
  2. 아름다운 세상 (Beautiful World)
  3. 아날로그 센티멘탈리즘 (Analog Sentimentalism)
  4. 그곳에는 낭만이 있다 (Soft Bruise)
  5. Imagination
  6. I Can Feel My Heart Touching You
  7. 흰천장 (White Ceiling)
  8. Into the Endless Night

Album Summary

This album is precisely what Parannoul envisioned it to be: sentimental and nostalgic, yet intricate enough to convey feelings. It’s amazing how music and rock are mixed with calm, mellow sections. This project keeps the listener constantly attempting to recall it thanks to its sound design, every piano chord, kpop melody, guitar fuzz, genre alchemy, and every effect added to the album to appeal to the crowd.

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