The harshest critic of ’s music happens to be the person who makes it. Just read the quotes the anonymous Seoul artist posts to their Bandcamp page: “I think these are some kind of magic, that will shine bright for a while and then lights out, like nothing happened”; “He believes he is talented..

.his singing skills are fucking awful, and is below average in height and appearance and everything.” Even as they’ve emerged as a figurehead of and a leading light in an exploding online shoegaze scene, Parannoul are imagining backlash.

Though 2023’s upgraded their blown-out, lower-than-lo-fi digital shoegaze with stunning results, trades that deep blue for scorching red—a loud-as-fuck rock record that would be called “back to basics” if Parannoul had ever once sounded like a typical rock band. In contrast to its lush and collaborative predecessor, is credited entirely to Parannoul. Guitars strum slightly out of time, drums tumble in imperfect rhythms, and on “암​전​고​백 (Lights Off Repentance),” Parannoul play at approximately twice their typical tempo, working up a folk-punk froth that resembles way more than Is Parannoul working on MIDI with next-generation humanizer settings or were they able to play all of these analog instruments in isolation? Not that is exactly organic; the “piano” motif on “시계 (Backwards)” is reminiscent of a Skype ringtone.

But whereas previous Parannoul songs added or removed layers,.