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Words by: Anna Julia
Technical detailsYear: 2009Genre: Alternative rock, punkLength: 40:18 minutesCountry: United States
Brand New Eyes is the last but one studio record the rock band Paramore released until now, and the last before the great change they experienced in their formation as well as in their music style, before they dived to the more mainstream scene with the singles Still Into You and Ain’t It Fun. But this is another story, and we’re not here to talk about the self-titled last album they released until now, but about the intimate, deep, detailed treasure that Brand New Eyes is. No wonder it is their second best-selling album, and my personal favorite.
Without losing a bit of their characteristic energy, those five guys from Tennessee show us a more personal side and open their wide variety of lyrics so we can see the honesty, the beliefs, the deep feelings of Hayley Willams and Josh Farro, the songwriters of the band. Taking a step out of the riot-grrrl-ish attitude previously established by Williams in the anterior album, Riot!, Paramore explores topics such as love, lies, or even their own band, in songs that really resonate with who can be listening.
Another detail I have to highlight is the presence of two ballads in the album, one of which, The Only Exception, was a really great hit when it was released, maybe because of it being nearly the first openly declared love song they wrote. The second one, Misguided Ghosts, complements the rest of the songs in the record, and proves us the band can bear this calmer type of melodies with success and beauty.
For this review, even though it’s not part of the CD in itself, I’d like to point up the many music videos of the songs in this album, which are greatly done and visually pleasant. Even the one for Brick By Boring Brick, which is quite sinister, is detailed and carefully developed, so I invite you to have a look at them. I think you won’t be disappointed.
And, to end the review, I’d like to say I absolutely love Hayley Williams’ voice in this record; we can see she has evolved and grown since Riot!, musically and personally. Also, this is the album with which Paramore begins to write songs for movies, starting with Decode (available in the international version of the disc) for the Twilight movie. Later, they did an awesome song called Monster (with a likewise awesome video, watch it!) for Transformers: Dark of the Moon.
My favorite songs in Brand New Eyes have always been, since I listened to it for the first time when I was like, eleven years old (I’m fifteen now, so you can imagine), Looking Up, Misguided Ghosts and Brick By Boring Brick. Give them a listen!
Tracklist
1.- Careful (3:50)
2.- Ignorance (3:38)
3.- Playing God (3:03)
4.- Brick By Boring Brick (4:13)
5.- Turn It Off (4:20)
6.- The Only Exception (4:28)
7.- Feeling Sorry (3:05)
8.- Looking Up (3:29)
9.- Where The Lines Overlap (3:18)
10.- Misguided Ghosts (3:01)
11.- All I Wanted (3:48)
12.- Decode (International Version) (4:21)
Singles:
-Ignorance
-Brick By Boring Brick
-The Only Exception
-Careful
-Playing God
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