While listening to Paracosm, Ernest Greene’s latest album as Washed Out, you notice how much it sounds like you are constantly entering a cliché flashback scene in a 70’s sitcom. Long time listeners of Greene’s music will not necessarily find this surprising. He’s maintained a love for the hazy style that helped define the awkwardly named chillwave genre since its inception. Paracosm takes this feeling to another level. Beyond the overall feeling of experiencing the record via a home movie reel made in the 80’s, the album also features primitive and childlike samples. This is possibly the natural conclusion to how nostalgia is truly supposed to sound. While other artists focus their nostalgia into making music that pays homage to their idols, Greene has paid homage to the feeling of nostalgia itself.
It’s nearly impossible to say that anything on Paracosm is a throwaway track. Every song at least leaves you with a feeling of positivity. This is — in effect — the modus operandi of chillwave. “It All Feels Right,” the first full-length song on the album, is (unsurprisingly) a hazy upbeat song about finding balance or returning to a happy moment. It almost plays like Jimmy Buffett for the dubstep generation. Many of the songs feature subtle samples of people talking, children playing, and birds chirping. It’s as if there is a vague party going on throughout the album, and the listener has just stepped away for a moment to listen to the album. This is one of Paracosm’s strengths––it always feels slightly warm and embracing. It succeeds mostly in being an album that never wallows in misery, something that is largely missing from the current musical landscape.
The actual album’s sounds are nothing really new or innovative from what we have come to expect from Washed Out. His best songs are still largely upbeat and ethereal. The aforementioned “It All Feels Right,” along with “All I Know,” and the title track stand out as some of the best work on the album. Greene’s finest tracks are still the ones where his voice is at the heart. But he rarely breaks away from his comfort zones. “Great Escape” is at least a slight throwback to his more dance-oriented early work. Even given that, Greene still largely protects himself from any real change to his style. This fits more with the aesthetic the album has set up, but it doesn’t excuse the fact that Paracosm lacks any real surprise.
This lack of surprise is largely why Paracosm never really succeeds. It’s still a largely enjoyable album filled with warm feelings, but its lack in power to push itself past anything more than just being great background music is behind why it fails. There is obviously talent in Greene’s music, but he rarely pushes the boundaries of his sound. He just wants to wallow in what he knows and can return to. I mean, c’mon, there is even a song called “Falling Back.” The best way to describe Paracosm is comfortable. It’s an album that sounds like what it feels to be in a resort in a third-world country: safe and inclusive, but you still know you have to venture out into the outside world eventually.
Review by Justin Owlett. Follow him on Twitter at @justowle
