Paramore - This is Why

 

I like Paramore very much. I'm not what you might call among their natural constituency, They are YOUTH, although that might sound strange as they are now twenty years into their careers. Things work differently in the new millennium I find. But they definitely don't seem to be aiming their stuff as grizzled old blokes like me who are closer to sixty than fifty. I might be wrong.

Anyway, originally out of Nashville, Tennessee, they have nothing, and to the best of my knowledge, have never had anything to do with Country & Western about them. Instead they practice a pretty original variation on New Wave Pop. It may remind you of other things but really they've carved out their own space by now They take their time. New record This is Why is only their sixth, and I like it very much.

The band have mentioned Bloc Party and Foals as influences but I much prefer them to either of these. This is Why demonstrates a really sophisticated pop palette. They have the songs that you can kick off your shoes and dance around your living room to with some abandon. 

So that's the tickets sold for the next arena tour. But Paramore have more strings to their bow than just the ability to shift units. As This is Why unfurls it becomes increasingly introverted, takes its foot off the accelerator and really comes into its own. You realise that you are dealing with something much more sophisticated and layered than the upgrade on the Thompson Twins that the earlier songs suggest.

The tracks towards the end of the record are genuinely nuanced and touching. It marks out Paramore as something genuinely special and not just purveyors of the kind of sparky Pop tunes that you're pleased to hear when they come on daytime radio. Paramore should make even more friends with this, as if they haven't got enough already. What's more they deserve to.