Album reviews: Paramore, This Is Why; Yo La Tengo, This Stupid World
Album reviews: Paramore, This Is Why; Yo La Tengo This Stupid World
★★★★☆
'Emo' was a dirty word when Paramore released their last album, After Laughter, in 2017. A mere six years on, their pioneering mix of teen trauma and melodic post-punk has commandeered the zeitgeist. Angst is in — and nobody does it better, or in a catchier fashion, than Hayley William and her bandmates.
Paramore’s influence ripples through artists such as Billie Eilish and, especially, Olivia Rodrigo. Indeed, Rodrigo’s hit Good 4 U leaned so deeply into Paramore’s Misery Business that the Nashville group received a songwriting credit.
With a new generation of fans, there must have been a temptation, then, to retreat into the comforting certainties of their early albums. But Williams — who credits a brace of solo records with helping her evolve as a songwriter — has instead decided to open a new chapter in the emo playbook.
She does so with songs that draw on everything from early-onset midlife crisis (the group are all in their early 30s) to Taylor Swift. Swift is the inspiration for Running Out Of Time, which recalls a conversation she and Williams had when they were both 19 (Swift said she wanted to be the next Carole King).
Essentially, it’s a headbanger's Anti-Hero, with Williams counting the ways in which everyday life can beat you down (“what if I’m just a selfish p**k, no regard?”). It’s in the same “give me a break” register as single This Is Why — a hilarious song about wanting to stay at home and ignore the world — and the vituperative Big Man, Little Dignity.
Paramore started as a fizzy punk band. But they’ve matured and on This Is Why swerve from the bleak indie pop of C’est Comme Ça (which sounds like Canadian alternative act Metric) to Tori Amos-goes-electric closer Thick Skull. It’s an impressive forward step by a group who, despite their relative youth, have already clocked up nearly 20 years in the spotlight. This Is Why suggest the best may be yet to come.
★★★★☆
Last year marked the 25th anniversary of New Jersey indie group Yo La Tango’s definitive LP, the haunting, eternally mysterious I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One. It established their signature sound — a gauzy, beautifully unapproachable throb that landed like a mopier Velvet Underground or a shoe-gaze band with a hardcore punk trio hiding inside.
Since they’ve declined to replicate that album’s dazzling ennui. Until now. But with their 17th record, they finally circled around to I Can Hear's blend of cathartic anti-rock and home-spun melodies. It’s gorgeously untethered — as welcoming as a sweater that doesn’t quite fit yet which nonetheless is the comfiest you’ve ever worn.
