Paracosm (LP)

Now avalible on LP Limited Coloured Vinyl Includes MP3 of Entire album The music recorded by Ernest Greene as Washed Out has been nothing if not dreamy, and on his second fulllength, Paracosm, he takes the dreamlike, otherworldly atmospheres of his music a huge leap further. The title refers to a phenomenon in which people create detailed imaginary worlds, and the idea of escaping is all over Paracosm’s music and lyrics. Paracosmfinds Greene reaching beyond the computers and synths that filled Washed Out’s previous recordings, expanding his sonic palette to include over 50 different instruments, the most significant of which turned out to be old keyboards like the Mellotron, Chamberlin, Novatron, and Optigan. “I’ve grown as a songwriter to the point where I want to have more involved arrangements, and that’s really hard to do with sampling,” says Greene. “These machines were kind of a happy medium: The sounds have a very worn, distressed quality about them, much like an old sample. But they also offer much more flexibility because they’re playable.” Listeners will be immediately struck by Paracosm’s seamless melding of organic and synthetic sounds, and its lighter tone. Greene says: “I knew from the beginning I wanted this record to be optimistic, very much a daytime-sounding album. I think the last record felt more nocturnal in some ways. This one I just imagined being outside, surrounded by a beautiful, natural environment.” With its gorgeous execution and uplifting attitude, Paracosm is primed to be this year’s summer record. And it promises to do what its name suggests: take listeners to a better world. Review If Washed Out's first album Within and Without lived up to the band's name, and as the band's Ernest Greene has said, sounded monochromatic, the follow-up, 2013's Paracosm, sounds like a 21-gun salute fired from cannons filled with brightly colored confetti in comparison. Greene made a couple of big adjustments to the way he recorded this album – first he moved out to the countryside to get his head cleared out, then he decided to add a raft of vintage synths like Optigans and Mellotrons to his arsenal. The former helped him focus his attention and allowed him to pay microscopic attention to the sonic details; the latter added a major amount of variety and warmth to the album, bathing it in echoing tones of color and light. Bringing on board influences from the heady peak days of the shoegaze sound and writing songs that have big, sunny hooks also helps to make the album a wide-screen Technicolor experience. This time out, he also integrates live drums and bass into the mix of instruments, which gives the sound a human core and a little punch when the tempos move past languid and closer to loping. These changes don't mean that Greene is any less chilled out and laid-back; most of the record sounds like the most blissful soft rock album ever made (or the album Chapterhouse might have made if they were big Bread fans) and it's perfect music for doing nothing much on a gloriously warm and sunny summer day. Tracks like “It All Feels Right” or “Great Escape” have a sticky sweet center and sound the way sunscreen smells, “Falling Back” rolls past on cresting waves of hazy sound, and the rest of the album lives up to the title of the most relaxed and dreamlike song here, “Weightless.” This album is where Greene puts it all together and lives up to the promise of his early, sound-defining hit “Feel It All Around” by taking his chillwave somewhere sunny and life affirming. (Warmwave, anyone?) Within and Without sounded like music made to be played in a dentist office, cold and lifeless. Paracosm is the music you'd play while lying happily in the grass, or hanging out with your besties, or living life with no cares or cavities. It sounds fully colored in and unless you're a big fan of cold and lifeless, it's a huge step forward for Washed Out. Allmusic Guide – Tim Sendra