Ernest Greene’s latest album opens to field recordings of twittering birds in a rainforest, inviting us into a dreamy imaginary world. Considering his 2011 debut Without And Within was readymade to listen to on headphones by the pool at a tropical resort, it’s pretty much business as usual on Paracosm.
In contrast to Toro Y Moi’s expectation-defying pulling away from the icky chillwave category, Greene has stuck to his sepia-toned guns and this makes for a confidently executed and mostly consistent second album. Although the album dips to easy listening levels on the heel-dragging Weightless and there’s still nothing as invigorating as 2009’s ‘Portlandia’-fronting Feel It All Around, the mystical land of love and leisure is effortlessly evoked and brings with it subtle waves of melancholia and longing nostalgia.
Paracosm succeeds in its bid to give aural pleasure and satisfy fans of Greene’s previous album, but his echo-smeared music is starting to sound straight-jacketed. The paradise place that the album conjures up could easily be the seaside prison from the cult show The Prisoner, with the listener enticed by the wistful surrounds, but also wanting to break free from its hazy constraints.
BY CHRIS GIRDLER
Best Track: All I Know
If You Like These, You’ll Like This: Other Worlds TAKEN BY TREES, Turning The Mind MAPS, Era Extraña NEON INDIAN
In A Word: Sunkissed
