Sky Hundred

The harshest critic of Parannoul's music is the one who makes it. Just read the excerpts posted by the anonymous Seoul-based artist on his Bandcamp page: “I think these are some kind of magic, that will shine brightly for a while and then turn off the lights, as if nothing happened.” “He thinks he's talented…his singing skills are awful and he's below average in height and looks and everything.” Although they've emerged as South Korean indie rock stars and a leading light in an exploding online shoegaze scene, Parannoul imagines backlash. Although in 2023 After Magic they revamped the shabby, lower-than-lo-fi digital shoeshine to stunning results, Sky Hundred trades that deep blue for hot red—a powerful rock record that would be called “back to basics” if Parannoul had once sounded like a typical rock band.

Unlike its rich and cooperative predecessor, Sky Hundred credited entirely to Parannoul. The guitars thump slightly out of time, the drums fall into imperfect rhythms, and on “엕​전​고​백 (Lights Off Repentance),” Parannoul plays at about double their typical tempo, creating a folk-punk froth that feels like with On the plane over the sea much more than Without love. Is Parannoul working in MIDI with next generation humanist settings or was he able to play all these analog instruments individually? Not that Sky Hundred is it exactly organic? the “piano” pattern in “시계 (Back)” is reminiscent of a Skype ringtone. However, while Parannoul's previous songs added or removed layers, Sky Hundred works on dynamics. Opener “주​마​등 (A Lot Can Happen)” breathlessly tries to keep up as the tempo shifts to a dizzying IDM beat. Even though the 14-minute centerpiece “Evoke Me” was put together in Pro Tools, the raw elements sound like hours of jamming in real time.

For all its modifications, Sky Hundred it is immediately “Paranouli Music”, its constituent influences welded together by tension. Shoegaze still has the best claim for an album that uses so much guitar distortion, although unlike modern gossamer and gauze, Sky Hundred defined by its presence. the guitars thump rather than soothe and the melodies have the definition of a soda jingle. Although the occasional glimpses of flickering MIDI guitar found To see the next part of the dream in the fifth wave of emo they are gone, the spirit of the genre remains in Parannoul's lyrics, which express countless variations on digital sentimentality. “Even after everything, I want to believe that the feeling lasts forever” (“주​마​등 [A Lot Can Happen]”) or “In the beautiful world I dreamed of, there is no story for me” (“환상 [Fantasy]”) would be the most powerful distillation of Parannoul’s POV if it weren’t for the chorus of the aching “황​금​빛 강 (Golden River)”: “I remember memories of memories.”