After Laughter by Paramore
"After Laughter" is the fifth studio album by American rock band Paramore. It was released on May 12, 2017, through Fueled by Ramen as a follow-up to their 2013 self-titled album. The album was produced by guitarist Taylor York alongside previous collaborator, Justin Meldal-Johnsen. It is the band's first album since the return of drummer Zac Farro, who left the band with his brother Josh in 2010, and the departure of former bassist Jeremy Davis, who left the band in 2015. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from critics, the album received an average score of 81, based on 8 reviews, indicating "Universal acclaim ".
Following 2013’s <i>Paramore</i>, Hayley Williams became “tired of self-doubt and losing friends” and considered decommissioning the band. It makes this rich, vibrant, defiantly poppy return as surprising as it is satisfying. On an album indebted to the ’80s, there are echoes of Talking Heads (“Hard Times”) and Blondie’s forays into reggae (“Caught in the Middle”), while guitarist Taylor York’s love of Afro-pop informs “Told You So”. Darker moods sit beneath the shiny surface though, and Williams’ lyrics offer compelling studies of frustration and self-sabotage.
