Paramore sounds triumphant on Brand New Eyes
It’s been quite a year for Nashville emo rockers Paramore. The band spent the summer playing for capacity crowds as the opening act for No Doubt. It saw its 2007 album, Riot! sell some two million albums worldwide and get a Grammy nod. (The 2008 live album The Final Riot! sold remarkably well, too). The band persevered even as rumors suggested it was about to split because the guys couldn’t take the fact that fiery front woman Hayley Williams got most of the attention. And yet, the band doesn’t miss a beat on brand new eyes, its new album due in stores on Tuesday.
“You can’t be too careful any more,” Williams shouts on the shimmering opening tune, “Careful.” Her breathless vocals aren’t the only thing that works well on the tune. Even if the refrain never turns into a bona fide hook, there’s some dynamic guitar interplay mid-song. The same goes for “Brick by Boring Brick,” which starts slowly and gradually builds into a maelstrom. It’s not all bluster, either. The band shows great restraint on “The Only Exception,” a somber tune about childhood memories that’s one of the prettiest ballads the band’s ever delivered.
As much as it’s a cliché to say it, brand new eyes reflects a young band really coming into its own. Williams has said it’s the most collaborative of the band’s three albums and that’s reflected in the sonic diversity, which ranges from the lurching, Coheed-like “Ignorance” to the poppy “Playing God.” The group’s attitude is perhaps best reflected in the tune “Looking Up.” Ostensibly about a relationship that’s gone through tough times but started to get better, it could also serve as a metaphor for the way the group’s pulled through a rough patch. Things are indeed “looking up.”
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Tags: hayley williams, paramore
June 10th, 2010 at 6:45 pm
No it is. Think about it.