The review for ‘To See the Next Part of the Dream’ by Parannoul was released in our 1st edition of our magazine, which you can find here.
Parannoul is a new discovery for me. He released his second album ‘To See the Next Part of the Dream’ in February. It was a revelation. Parannoul created this album completely by himself on his computer as he can’t play any instruments. Then he dropped it on Bandcamp, completely unbeknownst to his family. It’s quite the story. Even today, he still hasn’t really shown his face anywhere.
In the introduction he wrote this: “I can’t say “It’s gonna be okay someday”. I just hope there will be more active losers like me in the world.“
‘Beautiful World’ starts off the album and is also the title track. This grunge rock track sets the tone really well. The edges between the vocals and instrumentals are so blurred that it fits under the genre ‘shoegaze’ quite well. I like how in the bridge the vocal intensity seems to go up a notch, to give it that extra sound of desperation. There’s an almost screamlike synth happening in the background that also adds to that feeling.
The next track is ‘Excuse’. We keep the same intensity from the previous track. Though we get more sections where the guitar ends up more on the forefront. There’s also more distortion thrown in. The lyrics are quite bitter.
Here’s a small section:
“Looking at the people around me growing up,
My sense of inferiority grows bigger and bigger
Efforts are overestimated.
If there’s no result, it disappears.”
note; this was translated by Papago, so pardon any errors.
‘Analog Sentimentalism’ follows that with a more happy sound. I like the whistle synth he added to the track, as it does give it that retro feel. It’s still very grunge rock in my opinion, but it feels a lot lighter. The bridge is adorable with the ‘la’s’. This is definitely one of my favorite tracks of the album.
Next up is ‘White Ceiling’. This song is a whopping ten minutes long. However, much like the meaning of the song, it’s all about the repetition of the mundane. The last part feels almost like a chant that takes you to a different mental state. It’s incredibly well done, and is a very cool listen. I definitely recommend listening to this track if you just need a break from your own brain.
‘To See the Next Part of the Dream’ is surprisingly not the title track, since the album was named after this song. The lyrics are in English and are a repetition of the two phrases: ‘To see the next part of the dream, Let’s walk on the path of a blue cat’. There are soundbits in Japanese added to the instrumentation. The blue cat was also referenced in his 2020 album ‘Let’s Walk on the Path of a Blue Cat’.
After that we get ‘Age of Fluctuation’. I enjoyed how the instrumentation goes from super intense to a more intimate, simplistic sound. Parannoul’s vocals add an extra sense to the ebb and flow of the track. Also, the violin sample that was added is lovely! The song is a bit over nine minutes long, and it meanders through several states without becoming boring or too repetitive. It’s great.
Track seven is ‘Youth Rebellion’. Finding his inner rockstar and refusing to be cowed is the topic of this track. It’s a cool track that focuses more on the guitar. There’s a cool instrumental bridge that was layered really well. The slow addition of the more ambient sounds are dope. The intense drum section was a bit shocking, but awesome at the same time.
‘Extra Story’ is the shortest single on the album. Parannoul doesn’t want to be an extra in his own life, he wants to be the main character. It’s a lovely sentiment. The track is one of the more minimalistic songs on the album. I like how the track is bookended with a soft intro and soft outro.
After that we get ‘Chicken’. The transition from acoustic to electric guitar is cool. I also enjoyed the addition of the piano in the instrumentals. The title of the track refers to ‘being a chicken’ or in other words, being a coward.
We close off the album with the single ‘I Can Feel My Heart Touching You’. This feels a bit more like classic rock, though still with the shoegaze style. I thoroughly enjoyed how one guitar line was brought more to the forefront of the instrumentation.
The album ‘To See the Next Part of the Dream’ by Parannoul is a solid experience. It’s cool that he started out on Bandcamp and is slowly but surely gathering a following. I am very curious to listen to his next releases.
