Despite having been a Paramore fan for roughly ten years now, I have to admit that I’ve fallen a little out of the loop with the band.
My younger sister is a hardcore fan of the trio/duo (?) and she generally keeps me up to speed with anything they’re doing, whether it’s a new single, an album release or tour dates. We managed to get tickets for their Royal Albert Hall gig in London in a couple of weeks, and from seeing them a few times before I know they’re going to put on a great show, they always do. But their imminent show made me realise that I hadn’t given their new album, ‘After Laughter’, a proper listen.
I went out and bought it on release day and I’ve heard their two singles ‘Hard Times’ and ‘Told You So’ on the radio, but the album had sat largely forgotten about on my shelf. So on it went.
‘Hard Times’ is surprisingly enjoyable. At first I wasn’t sure, but the more and more I listen to it the more I like it. The bouncy and upbeat tone gets stuck in your head but not in a way where it’s annoying. It’s peppy and reminiscent of ‘Still Into You’ from the band’s previous 2013 self-titled release, something that Paramore have been criticised for in the past, but something I really like about their newer music. I’m no longer the rock-loving teenager I was ten years ago, so hearing their new, more mainstream, sound is fantastic.
‘Told You So’, their second single release, is similar to ‘Hard Times’ in terms of its fun and playful nature. Its use of Hayley’s staccato vocals and the short and punchy guitar in the background helps pair the two together.
The whole album is smothered in a softness that’s unlike their traditional sound, as if someone has blanketed it with a calm and tranquillity that wouldn’t go amiss on one of the band’s cruising tours (‘Parahoy’). This could be seen as an indication of their status as a band now, showing that they’re just going with the flow and seeing where they end up.
It’s no secret that things have been difficult between the members in recent years. Tracks are peppered with a sad and lamenting, almost mournful tone, throughout the album, which are then mixed in with the more upbeat tracks. This could be interpreted as Hayley desperately covering over the cracks as her fellow bandmates come and go and personal rifts only get bigger as even she starts to wonder why she’s even bothering.
‘Fake Happy’ is the epitome of this, with one repeated line being “please don’t ask me how I’ve been”. Sounding similar to tracks from the band’s 2009 ‘Brand New Eyes’ album, it’s a slightly solemn yet almost optimistic track, reassuring fans that they are still here, they are still making music. They’re trying.
The entire album is basically a ‘try’. I’m a Paramore fan, as I mentioned at the start of this piece, and I’ve been listening to them since I was fourteen and going through my emo/rock/goth phase at school. I’ve never not liked their albums. And while I don’t not like this new album, it simply doesn’t excite me in the way that their previous ones have. It feels like the three of them have tried but that they could do (and have done) better. It certainly doesn't make me laugh.
Let’s hope their tour is something special and that their internal troubles haven’t soured their music too much.
