Paramore: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert
Oct. 2, 2017, Lars Gotrich Paramore s After Laughter captures the moment between rapture and its comedown, the glitter wiped away, left with skin rubbed raw. It s a record, more than a decade into the band s career, that not only exposes the sparkling pop that s always lit Paramore s songs, but also deals with the ache of growing up and growing apart. When Hayley Williams sings, Tell my friends I m coming down, We ll kick it when I hit the ground from the 80stastic jam Hard Times at the Tiny Desk, the stark dichotomy is laid bare by the band s strippeddown performance that still packs a small synth and Zac Farro s drum machine into its Afropopflecked textures. Backed here only by guitarist Taylor York, 26 is Williams letter to a younger self, to still believe in dreams, knowing its costs. Paramore s quieter songs have never quite shown this depth of understated devastation and determination, and Williams reflects that nuance in a voice that scales the end of the line, And they say that drea
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