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First Impressions - brand new eyes


kwik-silva
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First impressions...they've stood their ground surprisingly well. Maybe it's because I could pretty much see the album for what it is on the first listen? I'll start with the complaints, because this post will make more sense that way.

 

I don't agree with whoever it was that decided to stuff multitracked vocals everywhere. They do make the vocals sound stronger, in a way, but they also take the characteristics out and I don't like that at all. Whoever knows more about audio engineering can correct me on this, but I hear multitracking as the reason why most of the choruses sound almost liquid-like. Call me a selection of different things from your on-the-go vocabulary if you want but I loved the sound of Hayley's voice on Riot! and some of it is lost here.

 

I can recognize little bits of a story arc here, but the album's flow is almost non-existent. The songs are really punctuated and they make the album sound like "we wrote a bunch of songs, and then thew the best of them into this album". As we know, that's exactly what happened...so fair enough, then! Still, I'm used to albums flowing seamlessly from one song to the next.

 

Song structures don't really venture outside little variations of the basics, and this doesn't help my feelings about the flow of the album at all.

 

So, is there anything I did like about the album? There most definitely is!

 

Multitracked vocals. They've never been used to this extent before, and they offer an interesting perspective on the vocal production. Smoothen the corners and add some new power to the singing. Why not? Keeps the audience on their toes...whoever was bored of Hayley's voice can now listen to it in a new form. The epic high notes are still in place, but I don't see the fuss over All I Wanted, since that same E5 is sung in Turn It Off, and there it doesn't sound like she is struggling with it. What else can I say about the vocals? I still can't get over how amazing Hayley is in her craft, and I'm eager to see her progression from here. I really like her lyrics as well, it's interesting to see a whole album made up of songs that are consistently really really honest while retaining the musical form. I would probably hold a different opinion if I was still the cranky old man who switches the channel when Paramore comes on, but that's not a discussion for today, is it?

 

Structure-wise, not much has changed since Riot!, the same basic patterns can be heard in almost every song save for a few exceptions. What's there to keep me interested, then?

 

First, there's an attention to detail unlike anything I've heard from Paramore before. Two guitars are used much more effectively this time around, there is a lot of stuff like counterpoint melodies and texturing going on, in addition to many different vocal parts layered together. They are not going to pull this vocal circus off live without a gospel choir, but that's not my concern right now. It almost feels like a new approach to songwriting, because the structures are in some places even more simple than before, but still it's audible that they keep learning new things instead of making the same stuff over and over again.

 

Second, the overall tone of the album is different. I can't really say it's "dark", but "sad" is just wrong and "mature" makes me cringe, so make your pick and let me get on with this. Everything sounds a lot more serious, and even the energetic moments that are placed here and there sound more aggressive than happy to me. The changes in songwriting and production make the majority of this tone change for me, but the singing style and lyrics augments it a fair bit as well. A lot can, and did, happen in two years so I'm not surprised that there's a noticeable change, and I'm happy that it's there.

 

Overall, it's an album crafted with a balance of heart, persistence, restrain and skill. I had my expectations but they are irrelevant now. If I look at the album for what it is, rather than for what it isn't, I'm happy with what they have created. What about a solid grade?

 

...Nah, I'll leave that to the mathematicians.

 

As I've heard, Paramore is going for the #1 spot in numerous countries already. Let me just conclude with this: I'm happy for every single new fan that Paramore gets because the band deserves every bit of the success they receive, and I don't give a rat's ass if that means new "mindless idiotic fans", because I don't care if I'm going to be associated with them now. We are not a high-IQ society. We are not Freemasons. We digest music differently from one another. So what if someone only knows one song from a band? Maybe that's just a long and passionate fandom taking it's first steps? Maybe the dude has no interest to delve further? Maybe not a fan of everything Paramore has done or even half of it, but a fan nonetheless. I'm still happy that at least someone is getting success in the music biz, and I'd MUCH RATHER HAVE THOSE MINDLESS IDIOTIC MUSIC FANS STICK AROU*bvabbzbzbzbaaaascxxzvaabavxaxbavx* We apologize for the inconvenience caused by the technical difficulties, and will return shortly

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Pekka really hit the nail on the head with many of my thoughts with his big post on the previous page.

Recently I've been listening even more to BNE, as much as 3 times a day even consecutively, so it's gotten well into my brain now.

 

Good production is something taken for granted by many people , because let's face it, the majority of people listen to very popular music.

So for many people, a good production is "just how it always is" but it's far from the case.

Admittedly, being a metalhead at heart, I'm not very "hip" and in the know when it comes to a lot of popular music. I couldn't tell you who any of the members of VersaEmerge or All Time Low are to save my life, but I can sit here and talk about various metal bands hardly anyone has heard of all day long.

I'm not saying I'm all "Mr underground credibility muthafuckers" either, because I do listen to a lot of music that is quite well known too ( I mean, fuck, I'm on a Paramore fan forum board, obviously I'm not all about underground music), just that as a result of being a metal fan it just means a lot of the music I like isn't very popular due to how it is stylistically.

 

But anyway, back onto my main point.

Obviously at the forefront of the whole thing is the band and the music itself, that's ultimately the main thing for most people, including myself.

But the work that Rob Cavallo (producer), Chris Lord-Alge, Doug McKean and Ted Jensen have put in should not be overlooked.

 

They were all part of the artistic process. And I guess it's fair that I can assume not everyone here totally understands how exactly, since this isn't a production forum board anyway (and to be fair I had no understanding of this stuff before I starting going out of my way to learn about it in recent months).

It isn't made entirely clear just how much input Cavallo had in the album but it was mentioned that the band went through the entire pre production process without an outside processor.

Pre-production is not just merely a process of rehearsing the songs, but also being able to get in the right frame of mind, being able to become more "one with the music" so to speak, and also of course working on details that need to be sorted out before the actual production process proper begins.

 

Judging from the results of the album, I'd say the band did quite well at this aspect of the production process.

Next up of course is engineering (as well as tracking), handled by Doug McKean in this case.

Things such as microphone placement on guitar/bass amps, drums, vocals etc, amp settings, drum tuning etc etc is something probably not of much interest to those who aren't of a technically minded nature.

But yet, it's not a mechanical and robotic process as many may think.

The way the guitar, the bass guitar, the vocals, the drums etc sound on the final product can have an affect on how you feel about the music, even if just on a very sub conscious level if you're not into the technical details.

 

The same goes for mixing, it's very a artistic process that can truly affect the end result and can give us certain feels/emotions about what we hear.

While of course mixing is a set job, Chris Lord-Alge is told to "mix this album", is it yet something with no rules, no boundaries, he can feel free to mix it to how he desires to fulfill his artistic desires.

 

One thing I've noticed about Brand New Eyes regarded the engineering and mixing is the tone of the instruments and how they sit in the mix and how it's just different to Riot!.

 

First off, I can hear the guitars are more pushed back in Riot! or should I say, since Brand New Eyes is a later album, more pushed forward in BNE.

It lends itself to a more aggressive feel, something you might not notice if you're not into audio engineering like myself, but something you might feel sub consciously.

The cmybals are a little softer and pushed back in BNE , while the snare drum is a little more forward, which again adds to the aggressive feel.

The bass guitar/the general lower end content in BNE is also pushed back slightly compared to Riot!.

And since every element in a mix effects every other element, the result of less lower end content, darker and more pushed back overheads, tend to bring out the sound of the snare and guitar more which is giving you that overall more aggressive/moody feel (or whatever you want to call it).

 

I would go into mastering, but by the time it gets to the mastering engineer, it's post production so it arguably has less effect on the overall package as pre production and production do.

But yes, in addition to the elements described by Pekka musically (the counterpoint and polyphonic melodies, texturing), hopefully my post was able to shed a little light for some of you guys on the production side of things that has caused this new album to sound different to the last.

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BNE is probably my least favorite album by them. I've never heard a paramore song that I didn't like... but with The Only Exception and Misguided Ghosts... I can not get through the whole song without pressing skip =P.

 

And someone mentioned the double track of Hayley's voice. It bothers me so much! Like when Ignorance came out I was like OMG HAYLEY WHAT DID THEY DO TO YOU!! The song grew on me after a while though. So have all the others, but TOE (hahahaa) and MG =P. I can't stand them.

 

All I Wanted is a beautiful song though. I can't stop listening to it.<3

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Their best album yet, in my opinion. It is really different, like RIOT! was from AWKIF. They have changed, had a lot of things to deal with, as a band, as friends, and this is the outcome. I love it and listen to it 5 times a day, no joke, and at least. One thing, though... Where are the songs about love? :P, just kidding! The next album (Nah, I don't expect it before a while) will be more directed towards another subjet, BNE was about growing up and friendship. That's why people might find it either boring, or weird.

 

It's much more mature, yet it still sounds a lot more like AWKIF then RIOT!. The vocals and lyrics from our beloved Hayley are better then ever, delivering a meaningful message on every single line, while being direct, but not too much, so that almost anyone can identify through the songs.

 

A hell of a masterpiece there, just like the previous albums. I'm looking forward for the next one, while not being pressed.

 

Best song off BNE would totally be Careful.

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