Paramore’s Brand New Vision

noah | September 28, 2009 10:00 am

Our continuing look at the closing lines of the week’s biggest new-music reviews continues with a roundup of reactions to brand new eyes, the new full-length by the fiery Tennessee pop-punk act Paramore: • “We’ve got plenty of lady pop stars trilling about boys’n’love’n’stuff; what we really need is more women yelling their hearts out, being pissed off and then working through it, just like Willams does on the rest of the album. Sure, the two slower tracks might make for a break in the relentless pace, but who needs the rest? If you just so happen to be one of the best in the up-tempo pop-smattered emo-punk game, why bother slowing down? For this lot, more is most certainly more.” [Leonie Cooper, NME] • “Last year, rumors swirled about the possible breakup of the group, and two tracks here — ‘Looking Up’ and ‘Where the Lines Overlap’ — play like responses to that hubbub. ‘God knows the world doesn’t need another band / But what a waste it would have been,’ Williams wails in the former, before adding, ‘I can’t believe we almost hung it up.’ In the latter, over a typically speedy, robo-garage groove, she admits, ‘No one is as lucky as us.’ Given Paramore’s purity of purpose, though, luck isn’t really part of the equation.” [Mikael Wood, Spin] • “On the album Paramore allows itself a few quieter songs, particularly ‘Misguided Ghosts,’ a goodbye ballad set to fingerpicked guitars. But it still revels in loud guitars and big buildups. The buzz-saw punk rhythm guitar that opens ‘Brick by Boring Brick’ could propel an entire song, but within moments a high guitar line crowns it, and Ms. Williams sweeps them both aside with a melody of her own. By the end, the song has sprouted a nonsense-syllable chorus that’s pure pop. Like most of the album’s songs, it’s catchy enough to carry Paramore on to its next identity crisis.” [Jon Pareles, NYT] • “The swaying and vulnerable ‘The Only Exception’ is probably the best place to start, with singer Hayley Williams forging a connection instead of simply spitting out her feelings, while the band locks in at a sympathetic simmer behind her. They boil over on the impressive goth-metal ballad ‘All I Wanted,’ while ‘Ignorance’ is a thrilling little headlong rush. Most of the rest is boilerplate Warped Tour anthems and one big yawn of an acoustic number (‘Misguided Ghosts’). Paramore is certainly a sharp enough unit that doesn’t lack for energy, and Brand New Eyes features enough interesting ideas to take notice. All it needs is to double the ones it has, and it’ll be a band that’s foolish to ignore.” [Marc Hirsh, Boston Globe]

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