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Brand New Eyes
Paramore
6.4
Released 2009
Rubric:
Musicianship: 6
Musical Cohesiveness: 7
Song Structure: 6
Lyrics: 6
Emotional Energy: 8
Emotional Landscape: 6
Variety: 5
Album Structure: 6
Production: 9
Lasting Impression: 5
I think it’s best that I start out this review by stating that I am and have for a long time been a Paramore Fan. This doesn’t mean I think they are a good band, it just means that at certain times during my life, I enjoyed their music (and may or may not have had a crush on Hayley Williams.) Over the last few years my friends have given me a lot of shit for this, and Brand New Eyes serves as a wonderful reminder as to why they are right. Usually. In a nutshell, Brand New Eyes is an inconsistent, incoherent and utterly uninspiring album. Fortunately there is more to life than nutshells, and Unfortunately I am a (self proclaimed) music critic, so I am obligated to crawl out of said shell and tell you guys what doesn’t suck about Paramore’s latest album. Most of what is worth listening to here is Hayley, and this not just because I find her very attractive. Her voice continues to mature, and she actually delivers a really spectacular performance on Brand New Eyes. Her vocal prowess provides the only saving grace to The otherwise dreadful ending song “All I Wanted” as she belts out an absolutely beautiful scream at the 3/4 mark of the song, almost making it worth the listen. Other bright spots on this album include Zac Farro’s drum work which is pretty consistently solid throughout. It won’t blow your mind, but it’s definitely worth noting when a pop band like Paramore actually has a good drummer. Unfortunately The guitar section of the band is monotonous as ever, consistently churning out boring riffs, progressions, and “solos.” The only spark of life comes with the first riff of “Careful” which could almost fit as the opening riff to a emo-prog album, but there is no other instance of any kind of guitar related excitement on the album, so in the end the intro riff just feels like a waste of energy.
The last, and most exciting positive aspect of “Brand New Eyes” is the fact that a couple of their songs are actually really well written. They are carefully constructed around strong melodies and clever lyrics, and knit together with effective (but entirely unoriginal) song structures. ‘Brick by Boring Brick’ stands out as the strongest track on the album, and probably one of the best songs they’ve ever written. Its an entirely appealing and convincing pop-rock anthem that picks a strong emotion, tells a simple but intriguing story about the dangers of living in a world of fantasy, and keeps the listener entertained for all three and a half minutes. Brick By Boring Brick isn’t just a nice song though- it is proof that Paramore can craft a song efficiently and deliberately, using build ups and strong, diverse melodies to create a range of moods that help to make a song enjoyable even when each individual part isn’t particularly musically exciting or original. The other songs that exhibit more meticulous crafting include “Careful,” and “Ignorance.”
Paramore shows us that they can write a good song on Brand New Eyes, making it even more frustrating that the rest of the album is entirely uninteresting. The key reason that Brand New Eyes falls flat on its face, is Paramore’s inability to consistently implement strong writing that maximizes the effectiveness of each song. Their melodies are appealing, and their choruses are catchy, but many times it just feels like they didn’t know how to piece each song together. Almost every song follows the verse chorus verse structure, and not only does the repetition get boring by the end of the album, but in many cases it feels like the ideas in the song would have benefited from a different formula. “Turn It Off” is one of the album’s better songs for just this reason; it benefits from a really nice and unexpected outro that takes the song to a different space, and helps to break from the monotony of predictable verses and choruses. The problem is that this kind of release almost never happens, and when it does, it often comes too late, diminishing the impact of the change and leaving the album wallowing in a unappealing mess of predictability.
