Review Summary: Brick By Boring Brick, Paramore Rebuild Their Sound
The Punky, Strong-Willed Williams has all but vanished. Paramore is only lead by three members during this EP (With Josh and Zac Faro leaving the band in 2010) Everything was going to hell and falling apart.
Hayley and crew have moved on since then: releasing a rather daring collection of singles (only thirteen to fourteen minutes long) featuring four singles and hoping to bring a new light to the band.
That light isn't very pretty... The clever lyrics are dimmed down here and with the absence of musical moments, The guitar work from 'Ignorance' for example. The future doesn't look too bright.
What does save the record. However is Hayley's voice throughout the four tracks - it ranges from powerful to saddened. Make no mistake about it. This isn't the singer we all fell in love with: This is her shadow, a darker but somewhat more passionate side. Flanked by the two other remaining members of Paramore. The Singles aren't perfect but they are enjoyable and prove for an emotional experience.
"Monster" is by far the catchiest song of the four and flows simply until the chorus - where Haley's voice displays more power. The song escalates from that moment, becoming better with each listen. Some prowess is first shown from Taylor York here who displays an interesting guitar part.
"Renegede" Doesn't hold up. Brighter and sometimes bigger than "Monster" This is another stand-out moment for the band. More heartfelt lyrics, without losing momentum. Paramore already proving they aren't dead yet. Doing what they do best.
"Hello Cold World" The weakest song on 'Singles Club' proves still to be highly entertaining, packing more variation but overall coming off as weaker than the first two songs. The break is a worthy moment to mention and doesn't disappoint in separating the vocals for a short time.
"In The Mourning" A Sad Track to follow up those first three bouncy singles. It never falls flat on it's face like would be expected to. Instead, it comes off as heartfelt - Displaying Hayley's true emotions about the band's broken past (so it seems) There are no standout moments, only the vocals which prove to be as solid as ever.
It's interesting to see how Paramore will progress from here when everything on display is cool, calm and collected. Nothing stands tall against their older material as of yet. But the band are gathering steam to a return of Pop punk dominance.
