Nostalgic memories and the true essence of Parannoul

Bryan Baste | Staff Writer

Parannoul is a shoegaze, noise pop, emo artist from South Korea, and while they are a recent success, with their first album coming out in 2020. Their breakout album To See the Next Part of the Dream (2021) has already established a huge legacy within Shoegaze. 

With this new record “Sky Hundred” Parannoul moves their music in a new brighter direction while keeping some of that emo-inspired melancholy. With all the noise coming through it is an impressive feat that this album conveys as much emotion as it does. The new direction and sound give this album an overall bitter-sweet feeling.

There’s a lot of triumphant and grand-sounding piano all over this record which cuts through the Lo-fi drumming that constantly assaults every single track with a violence that only the most grindcore of grindcore drummers can match.

“A Lot Can Happen” is a good example of this where the keys of the piano create this almost whimsical and triumphant melody that transitions into bubbly synths.  While the drums just press on-and-on almost sounding like someone banging on sheet metal but in a good way. The guitars as well are a thing of chaotic beauty with so much fuzz that half the time you can’t hear them.

However, here it works in the album’s favor by creating a suffocating emotion from just this wall of sound.

The track, “Painless”, showcases the guitars well, giving time to some acoustic chords in between different choruses while, during the chorus, they become these pure feedback machines where you can just barely make out the chord that they’re trying to play.

This mixed with emo-tinged vocals and some screaming gives the ending of the track a huge bombastic ending with screaming and sound all just constantly melting over each other giving the song a unique soundscape. 

Feelings of nostalgia and old times really permeate throughout this album for me and since I can’t understand what they’re saying (every song is in Korean) I only got that through just the sounds of this record.

The chords are always being built up for some grand release and the use of certain instrumentation gives me a more innocent and almost child-like emotion compared to their previous work.

The quaint xylophone being played in the background of “Gold River” or in the same song sounds of crickets, cicadas, and more can be heard in the bridge which gives me a similar vibe to a nice summer evening with your family.

No One Talks Anymore It Anymore is my favorite track, with sounds of a distorted and distant conversation in the background reminding you of memories gone by as accordion and piano play a tango of reaching the deepest parts of your brain bringing out memories you may cherish or despise.

This track made me cry and filled me with a bitter-sweet melancholy that the whole album tries to instill into you from minute one

Overall, the album is fantastic and blew me away easily, the best record Parannoul has made and the only shoegaze album to get me that emotional.

This album is like every fun end-of-summer outing with friends that you may or may not see ever again, you dread the day being over but right as you notice the day is gone and all you have are those memories that can make you smile, cry, laugh, all wrapped in your own personal nostalgia.

10/10 must listen to album, thank you for reading.