2023 - South Korea
Shoegaze, Indie Rock, Dream Pop, Post-Rock
He was the night. He was a dream walker, a cathartic sleepy scream. He was every anxieties after you reached this point of no-return, just before going to bed, laying in this perfectly paradoxical state of mind when you know you need to rest while not wanting to face tomorrow. Parannoul was a new kind of emo music, a new kind of music. A world in itself that enabled you to close your eyes and feel it all. A hug, if not to heal your anxieties, to heal your loneliness. Because now, during this moment where you are lonelier than ever, before going to bed, someone was screaming and whispering in your ear that he was there too. But night cannot last forever. It’s the morning again. Don’t open your eyes, keep them close, keep the music close. Parannoul is here again, opening the new year with a new discourse. It’s morning again, and daylight is already peaking outside the window. I am here, Polaris, let the textures enwrap you in a balm of lightness, let me tell you you’ll be safe, in this very moment, just before you get out of bed, you own your day. If To See the Next Part of the Dream was about dreadfully facing your future, After the Magic is about being in this future, and realizing that you are doing way better than you ever thought you will.
« I’m not afraid of the morning anymore / The moonlight doesn’t shine during the day » Freedom. Reclaiming your rights to be okay and showcasing it to the world. Parannoul said this wasn’t the album we were expecting, but the album he always wanted to make. And it definitely sounds like it. Even on a track like Insomnia, a title that would perfectly fit his previous album, the lyrics always tend to reach for some light. Freedom, because Parannoul is not a slave of the nighttime anymore. Freedom, because there’s a newfound strength in all the lyrics, bright, optimistic, that we couldn’t believe would ever exist in Parannoul’s world. But somehow, it’s here now, and the time to rejoice finds its shape in Insomnia as much as in Arrival and We Shine at Night. Like a signature, moments of silence and moments of saturated hopeful melodies intertwines in our ears. And then, voices. Your voices. People all over the world singing along. "You", as a "we". A choir is born. « Until we write our own stories, let’s color every black and white day » This is what changed for Parannoul, he met a community of people who were more than ready to welcome his music inside their lives. He found out his music was helping us. So he decided to reach for our hands and bring us in. On We Shine at Night and Parade, Parannoul is a collective.
If we’ve been able to follow Parannoul’s transformation thanks to his works as Mydreamfever and his collaborations with Asian Glow and Della Zyr, After the Magic is the moment where all of these experimentations culminate. Strings are back and continue to bring this uplifting and dreamy feeling to his music, while both Asian Glow and Della Zyr are credited as collaborators. On the marvelous Sound Inside Me, Waves Inside You especially, Della Zyr’s far-off voice works as one of the purest and most beautiful instrument off the entire album. There’s an eeriness to it that amazingly fits Parannoul’s tone and opens a new realm of delicate sounds. Parannoul says in Parade : “I am no longer a highschool student / I can love myself”. We had this image of Parannoul still as a student working alone in his bedroom, his only escape, trying to open a window as a cry for help directed towards the frightening world outside. And these collaborations of friends, friends he found on the way, are among the reasons why Parannoul achieved to record an album as hopeful as this one. The dream has changed, and now we no longer have to dwell in darkness.
But I think that the most optimistic perspective of After the Magic is Parannoul’s ability to acknowledge that peace, like sadness, are passengers. “Even if the world runs away and I get lost again / Blossom, with my little wish / I can't go back, but I remember / To give up like this is too early / Even if the magic disappears / A new dream awaits / It's not over / Our long journey” he sings on Blossom. “Our long journey” is not something we could have heard back in 2021. Because, to picture a long journey, our long journey, you need to accept you’ll live long enough to experience it. Now Parannoul encountered new dynamics and he is ready to accept that troubles don’t last always. Troubles come back always, but they soften. “To give up like this is too early” might have been a mantra at the time of To See the Next Part of the Dream and indeed, here he stands, victorious. So spread your wings through the darkness, because even if things don’t last, there’s always a way for them to come back at some point. Let’s embrace those moments of peace as we enter a new era of Parannoul’s life. Open your eyes, wake up, we own this day, we’ll own this night, we’ll make it ours. There’s a “together” repeated in the sounds of daily life, the dream walker remains, but now he's holding a candle of light.
« I’m not afraid of the morning anymore / The moonlight doesn’t shine during the day » Freedom. Reclaiming your rights to be okay and showcasing it to the world. Parannoul said this wasn’t the album we were expecting, but the album he always wanted to make. And it definitely sounds like it. Even on a track like Insomnia, a title that would perfectly fit his previous album, the lyrics always tend to reach for some light. Freedom, because Parannoul is not a slave of the nighttime anymore. Freedom, because there’s a newfound strength in all the lyrics, bright, optimistic, that we couldn’t believe would ever exist in Parannoul’s world. But somehow, it’s here now, and the time to rejoice finds its shape in Insomnia as much as in Arrival and We Shine at Night. Like a signature, moments of silence and moments of saturated hopeful melodies intertwines in our ears. And then, voices. Your voices. People all over the world singing along. "You", as a "we". A choir is born. « Until we write our own stories, let’s color every black and white day » This is what changed for Parannoul, he met a community of people who were more than ready to welcome his music inside their lives. He found out his music was helping us. So he decided to reach for our hands and bring us in. On We Shine at Night and Parade, Parannoul is a collective.
If we’ve been able to follow Parannoul’s transformation thanks to his works as Mydreamfever and his collaborations with Asian Glow and Della Zyr, After the Magic is the moment where all of these experimentations culminate. Strings are back and continue to bring this uplifting and dreamy feeling to his music, while both Asian Glow and Della Zyr are credited as collaborators. On the marvelous Sound Inside Me, Waves Inside You especially, Della Zyr’s far-off voice works as one of the purest and most beautiful instrument off the entire album. There’s an eeriness to it that amazingly fits Parannoul’s tone and opens a new realm of delicate sounds. Parannoul says in Parade : “I am no longer a highschool student / I can love myself”. We had this image of Parannoul still as a student working alone in his bedroom, his only escape, trying to open a window as a cry for help directed towards the frightening world outside. And these collaborations of friends, friends he found on the way, are among the reasons why Parannoul achieved to record an album as hopeful as this one. The dream has changed, and now we no longer have to dwell in darkness.
But I think that the most optimistic perspective of After the Magic is Parannoul’s ability to acknowledge that peace, like sadness, are passengers. “Even if the world runs away and I get lost again / Blossom, with my little wish / I can't go back, but I remember / To give up like this is too early / Even if the magic disappears / A new dream awaits / It's not over / Our long journey” he sings on Blossom. “Our long journey” is not something we could have heard back in 2021. Because, to picture a long journey, our long journey, you need to accept you’ll live long enough to experience it. Now Parannoul encountered new dynamics and he is ready to accept that troubles don’t last always. Troubles come back always, but they soften. “To give up like this is too early” might have been a mantra at the time of To See the Next Part of the Dream and indeed, here he stands, victorious. So spread your wings through the darkness, because even if things don’t last, there’s always a way for them to come back at some point. Let’s embrace those moments of peace as we enter a new era of Parannoul’s life. Open your eyes, wake up, we own this day, we’ll own this night, we’ll make it ours. There’s a “together” repeated in the sounds of daily life, the dream walker remains, but now he's holding a candle of light.