Paramore

Paramore
 "Now," the first single from their self-titled, long-in-the-works fourth album..
Charles Aaron
Devolving to evolve, it's the #90s career plan, consistently amusing ourselves to death with once-perky emo bands who adopt ye olde loud-soft, "dynamic range" compression/production, and overly literal lyrics about how the world is weighing heavily on the lead singer's tiny shoulders. Paramore are more compelling than 99 percent of the abovementioned once-perky emo bands, mainly because of Hayley Williams' ability to invest her vocals with the love-is-an-operatically-blessed-and-cursed-battlefield feistiness of, say, Billie Joe or Pat Benatar. "There's a time and a place to die / But this ain't it!" she bellows, as the band pounds and plays lots of riffs that streak across night sky, and then the chorus 'splodes all across your auditory field. Futures are embraced, ships come into shores. Then there's an "ah-ha-ah-ha" chant that once might have been visualized by an ironic pep rally in a Bayer or Pellington or Romanek video. Now, we've got the MP3s urgently available blare to keep us warm. Huddle up close, kids.