The internet is screaming, shouting out praises for an album by Parannoul, an indie artist from Korea who has managed to create an album, nay, a piece of art that has bewildered shoegaze fans around the globe. Parannoul have achieved widespread critical acclaim owing to the dreamy, ethereal and mind-blowing album that is To See the Next Part of the Dream. Encompassing a journey through pensive & eclectic melodies packed with distorted instrumentals, sedating synths, adorned with touches of violins and xylophones, it sets a new standard for future shoegaze releases.
While the mixing is your average garage band levels with deliberately clipped instruments at some points which might turn away avid listeners, it only works towards the album’s benefit, enhancing the atmosphere of the album while putting the guitars as the center point. The other instruments do an immensely great & satisfying job, complementing the guitar and drum sounds so much so that it wouldn’t be surprising hearing a synth being in the foreground of a song. The vocals, admittedly recorded on a Samsung Galaxy 5 provide a bleak background noise to the instrumentals.
Each track is a journey of its own. To See the Next Part of the Dream opens up with “Beautiful World,” a song true to its name in every aspect. It immediately sets the tone for what’s to come on the album along with setting the listener in a trance, enchanted by the guitars and synths which manage to create a blissful yet somber atmosphere. It shows off the ethereal, dreamy vocals and guitars, backed up by explosive drums. It sounds almost like a hymn, providing you solace in the depth of your mind along with not letting up for a single second throughout. It leads into “Excuse” which starts off with some bombastic drums, once again showcasing the artistic blend of the all instruments & vocals.
While “Beautiful World” gets you settled into your own personal mental rollercoaster, “Excuse” takes it one step further and kicks it into motion. It alternates between faster paced drum beats followed by melancholic vocal centric passages, each flowing seamlessly into the other. Notable here is the bridge, comprising of spoken word which slowly builds up into a noisy, distorted scream. jettisoning back into the sped-up bits, leading you into a downward spiral and into “Analog Sentimentalism.” I find this to be one of the tracks that stand out. Carrying forward the momentum built by the previous song, “Analog Sentimentalism” returns to the more dreamier and less noisy bit of the journey, with a melodious and sweet-sounding synth capturing your full attention. The sound of people cheering along with the charming depict a more softer and smoother but no less beautiful side of “Parannoul’s” music.
Mid-album track “White Ceiling” starts off with alarm clocks, that one sound you hated as a kid that woke you up every day. And they do so here yet again. With the soporific synths from “Analog Sentimentalism” gone, it acts as a wakeup call for arguably some of the most peaceful ten minutes of the album displaying the gorgeous vibe owed to the mix. Midway through the track, the synth returns to complement the vocals, and thus providing a slower transit to your brain’s coaster. Nearing the end of the track, samples from Neon Genesis Evangelion layered with distortion and signature Parannoul vocals steal the show, getting you back to speed. and then slowing down again in the end to a silence that flows into the title track, “To See the Next Part of the Dream.” Starting off with a relaxing piano focused piece and tranquil vocals, it is the first sign of some relief on this journey before kicking off again with the amazing amalgamation of all the elements. The piano steals the show here though, having a persistent presence in the song.
The following track, “Age of Fluctuation“ might just be the noisiest track on the album. Starting off with a wall of noise, it kicks off the second half of the album with grace, owing to the vocals, which build in a sense of blissful agony, and which I found to the most focused on this song out of anything else on the album for the first half of the song. Slowing down into a rainy, melancholic passage, not unlike something off an Alcest album, the track blows your mind just as you’re about to get accustomed to the dream and hits you with a crescendo of synth backed melody as it drives you ever forward into the adventure with the distorted vocals once again returning to be the center.
“Youth Rebellion” begins with entrancing drums, which are most notable on this track, spectacularly building onto the vocals and providing the synths a base to go off from. Yet another track with vocals more prominent than the instrumentals (the other being “Age of Fluctuation”), the beginning of “Youth Rebellion” leaves some more to be desired for it feels overbearing on the length at the beginning, however the synths past the halfway point do manage to salvage the track to some extent. A math-y drum solo is a pleasant standout among the distortion & manages to ascend the song to Parannoul standards and drowning out into what you’d expect by now, some quality synths and flowing magnificently into “Extra Story”which almost feels like an interlude from the noise of all the previous tracks and comprises of solemn vocals backed with an acoustic guitar sound.
Almost at the end of the album is “Chicken,” which in typical Parannoul fashion brings back the dreamy synth and vocal elements present more prominently in the first couple of tracks, it creates a sense of gradually halting your mental rails as the journey nears its end. Finishing off on some delicate synths and two different vocals layered on each other, it drones out and into “I Can Feel My Heart Touching You” which starts off with a bouncy drum tune with the vocals reminiscent and delivering perfect emotion of something ending (this journey). The guitar sounds are in a slowed tempo, denoting the slow falloff and exit, creating a happier sounding atmosphere contrary to the rest of the album.
Another massive achievement of Parannoul is that every single instrument present on the album is digital and few would manage to notice that. I cannot stress this enough but To See the Next Part of the Dream is an amazing record which makes you smile and cry both at the same time for it is a journey like no other. With that said, it would be interesting to see what Parannoul come up with next for I am definitely going to be excited on where their journey takes them. As for me, my journey doesn’t end for I loop this album yet again. For you, the reader however, you can partake in this journey from Parannoul’s Bandcamp here.
9.5/10