It’s been a tumultuous three (ish) years for Paramore since ‘Brand New Eyes’. They’ve lost band members and pondered a split, so there were doubts that we’d even get to see a Paramore album again. Instead, they’ve come up trumps and ‘Paramore’ – their fourth studio album – is the result. It’s also one that represents the band at a pretty big crossroads.
The main problem Paramore have always seemed to have is that they have never managed to write what feels like a complete album, as every release has been laced with inconsistency. For every ‘Brick By Boring Brick’ there’s a ‘Looking Up’ just hiding around the corner, and unfortunately that’s exactly what’s happened again here.
Kicking things off is ‘Fast In My Car’, a song which you’d be forgiven for thinking indicates that the album as a whole would be going in the direction that lead single ‘Now’ had threatened – as far as openers go, it’s really not one that’ll get you excited about the solid hour of music ahead of you. In fact, the whole first quarter is not as instant as it really should be, and only ‘Grow Up’ stands out – and that is thanks largely to the vocal delivery found within.
With the arrival of ‘Interlude Moving On’, the three interludes that seem to have been forced upon the listener on the record (starting here) are lo-fi “tweeness” at its very worst, and they’re three pieces of music that don’t enhance the album whatsoever. They’re not really worth mentioning again as well, so moving on and going into the second quarter of the record, and it seems as if the band are finally getting into delivering the album most people wanted to hear.
‘Ain’t It Fun’ is absolutely brilliant, and carries a chorus so slick it hurts. It’s a song that descends into a fantastic gospel type madness, and while ‘Last Hope’ is the first of a couple of ballads (that the band do brilliantly) on the album, the gang vocal ending is one that’ll give you the fuzzies. The “hands in the air, beers for all your friends” type sing-a-long is perfect for large scale performances, and is sure to go down a storm live.
Things continue going from strength to strength with ‘Anklebiters’, a song right out of The Cure’s playbook, and ‘Hate To See Your Heart Break’ that carries a strong Country element. Album ender ‘Future’ closes things down in a post rock type moshathon that fades in and out to great effect.
Overall, ‘Paramore’ is a collection of 17 songs that would make a pretty great album if the fat had been trimmed, and the plentiful filler truly takes away from the listening experience here as you’re never really allowed to fully get into the album due to the way it’s been structured. However, there is more than enough here to suggest that one day Paramore are going to get it completely right. Maybe it’s just a case of finding the right producer or somebody just to give the band that extra push in the right direction. As a band, they’re standing on the brink of conquering the world, but the new line up sounds a little like it’s finding its feet.
CHRIS MARSHMAN