Paramore: After Laughter [FUELED BY RAMEN]

Why you'll love it

After Laughter swapped pop-punk for shimmering '80s new wave and synth-pop, and critics loved it. Drummer Zac Farro's return made it a reunion record, and "Hard Times" became one of the band's signature songs.

This edition

• Single LP, 12 tracks
• Fueled by Ramen pressing of the 2017 album
• Produced by Taylor York and Justin Meldal-Johnsen

About the album

Paramore had already outgrown pop-punk by their self-titled fourth album, but nobody quite expected After Laughter. Hayley Williams, guitarist Taylor York and returning drummer Zac Farro made a bright, bouncy, marimba-and-synth-laced new-wave record that sounds like Talking Heads, Blondie and Tom Tom Club having a pastel-coloured party.

Listen closer, though, and the lyrics tell a different story: burnout, anxiety and the exhausting work of keeping a smile on your face ("Fake Happy" says it all). That push and pull between sunny melodies and honest words is what makes "Hard Times," "Told You So" and "Rose-Colored Boy" so irresistible. It's the record that convinced a lot of grown-ups Paramore were one of the best bands going.

Also at Kops: more Paramore on vinyl · browse Alternative

Tracklist

Listen

On Fueled by Ramen, first out in 2017.