Released: 30 August 2024
Song Count: 15
Rating: 7.8/10
Description:
A friend of mine recommended this particular album to me, and though I didn't have any particular expectations going in, I was regardless left surprised with the quality of what I found.
Cacophany is Paris Paloma's debut album and explores many complex and intricate themes and ideas such as societal expectations, cultural sexism, mistreatment at the hands of others, mortality, self-confidence, and female identity. The nature of the conveyance of these themes in the tracks varies; at times, they are interwoven with intricate lyricism and poetic language to paint metaphorical pictures and have striking effects on the listener, whilst other instances have them displayed in a way that can best be described as overt and almost "preachy" in a particular sense.
Parloma's vocals are put into the forefront of the songs in the album and generally have a siren-like and angelic sound to them, lending them ease of layered harmonisation which, combined with flowy sung melodies accompanied by the simple but effective use of limited amounts of instrumentation, give a lot of the tracks a floating, ethereal feel. This, however, is also contrasted with instances of louder, more powerful sounding vocals within bouts of extra dramaticism within the album where they are needed, such as in the song "last woman on earth".
My personal favourites from the album include "pleaser", "hunter", "his land", and the most popular song that has had a snippet of it see virality on short-form content platforms, that being "labour" - though I'd argue that the dynamic melodies of the verses and pre-chori are far overlooked by comparison to the actual snippet.
A very good listen and an example of what well-made indie pop music has to offer.