In surprising contrast with how most years generally begin, January was an excellent start to 2023 in terms of music. This month, I heard some of the most exciting music I’ve encountered in a while, including the surreal neo-psychedelia of Lil Yachty’s (yes, you read that right) Let’s Start Here. and Margo Price’s pastoral heartland rock on Strays. However, neither release was as impressive to me as Parannoul’s After the Magic, a masterpiece of ethereal indie rock.
Have you ever had a moment when you’re listening to a song, where a particular melody, harmony, or instrumental passage is just so shockingly beautiful, that you have no choice but to put down whatever you were doing, rewind the song, and just sit there, dumbfounded, listening to that magical moment again and again? For me, passages that have this rare effect are the diamonds that make intensive listening such a rewarding experience (specific moments include the acoustic guitar break on Alex G’s “Hope”, the chorus of Big Thief’s “Blue Lightning”, and the final verse of Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right”). After the Magic, for better or worse, seems to make much of that listening meaningless. Instead of finding one of those beautiful moments every few albums, Parannoul’s sophomore album offers jaw-dropping moments of lush beauty around every melodic turn. It’s truly one of the most beautiful pieces of music I’ve ever heard, and I find new moments that stun me every time I dig into it.
Very few people know who Parannoul is. I don’t mean that in the sense of “Parannoul is an ‘underground artist’ and is only now being recognized by mainstream publications” (though that is certainly true). I mean it literally – asides from the fact that he is based in South Korea, nothing is known about Parannoul. The artist has gone to great lengths to preserve his anonymity, which has lent his music and surrounding paraphernalia a certain mysterious, abstract quality in which not only is it possible to separate the art from the artist, it’s impossible to connect them. Parannoul’s music exists in as much of a vacuum as is possible in the Internet Age. Listeners, especially in the English-speaking world, lack any concrete context for his art and are left purely with soundscapes and melodies to hold onto, and, in my opinion, that’s what makes those beautiful moments all the more impactful across After the Magic. Their beauty isn’t tied to a poetic line, or a striking moment that makes more sense contextually within the artists life, but because of the pure emotion with which Parannoul imbues every second of the album.
In a sense, After the Magic functions as a single, extended moment of dense beauty. Songs flow into each other naturally, moving from climax to climax with the ethereal grace of the album’s artwork. Parannoul’s melodies filled with passion combine with his innovative brand of shoegaze tinged with hints of dream pop and post-rock to create a tapestry of stunning aesthetics that continue to amaze me with every listen. And when the album ends, melody replaced with silence – after the magic is supposedly over – I’m still in awe.
