Rough and Beautiful Place – Mydreamfever

Last year, Korean shoegaze artist Parannoul became an underground sensation with the release of To See the Next Part of the Dream. An emotionally resonant album that was easily my favorite from 2021, the mystery behind the Parannoul project garnered a cult following. With the dawn of the new year, Parannoul has shifted towards a new age/ambient sound with the new moniker Mydreamfever. Rough and Beautiful Place is the first full-length release from the Mydreamfever project and it weaves together a serene journey. While the past few years have been rough, the sense of beauty and optimism throughout Rough and Beautiful Place is a reminder that everything is going to be alright.

Rough and Beautiful Place is a stark departure from the shoegaze and emo sounds of Parannoul but nevertheless, their sampling skills come out full force here. Piecing together nature samples and field recordings, the album has an ethereal, mystical tone to it that’s reminiscent of artists like Virginia Astley. The meditativeness and spiritual themes feel indebted to the work of Pharoah Sanders while the compositions are straight out of a Hayao Miyazaki film. The chirping birds, chanting vocal samples, chamber strings, and piano melodies help evoke spring imagery of flowers and grass swaying in the wind. The lush compositions evolve slowly with purpose as they incorporate different melodies and textures into the songs. While Rough and Beautiful Place is built around neoclassical new age sounds, it also pulls from ambient and chamber-folk influences. This is especially evident in songs like “Spirit of Love” which combines plucky strings together with echoes of children playing before morphing into dynamic piano chords.

Diving into a new sound isn’t without growing pains and Rough and Beautiful Place is sometimes too ambitious for its own good. Many of the passages can wander repetitively at times and for the most part, there’s nothing that hasn’t already been done by other new age artists. Even the flaws in Parannoul’s mixing become more apparent given that shoegaze is fundamentally noisy but new age relies on a certain degree of clarity. Surprisingly though, Rough and Beautiful Place manages to pull off most of its ideas well despite being a complete 180-degree turn from the Parannoul project. It’s a testament to their skill in manipulating samples and emotional peaks that the album’s compositions remain so majestic. There are moments where Rough and Beautiful Place seems unsure where to go next and the progression slowly winds down. Much like our everyday lives, we are faced with uncertainties that impede our progress and a wariness of the future. Nevertheless, the album continues to push forward with optimism and hope that we see the small beauties in the world around us.

Must Listens: Sprout, Moment is Now, Spirit of Love

70/100

About the Author

Jeff

I turned my incoherent ramblings on music, anime, and video games into an entire blog.

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