Paracosm

If you’re not familiar with Ernest Greene, better known by his stage name “Washed Out”, don’t worry - deep breaths - it’s not too late. The opening theme of the popular TV series Portlandia actually uses a clip from “Feel It All Around”, Greene’s most iconic song from his first EP Life of Leisure. What’s fun about Greene is that thumbing through his discography is like visiting every park in Disney World. All of his EPs and LPs have a distinct theme, ranging from the monotony of working a nine to five job in Mister Mellow to the intimacy of physical and emotional connection in Within and Without. Despite this variety, he still manages to maintain an essence that is distinguishably his own.

Holistically, Greene’s music falls under a category known as “chillwave”, a genre that typically appeals to the daydreamer with its euphoric sound and escapist lyrics. These descriptors are perfectly encompassed in Paracosm - Greene’s second LP and last project released under the label Sub Pop Records. Paracosm is a compilation that narrates the pursuit of pleasure and the fight to find freedom from discontentment and disorder. This album will make you realize there are emotions you didn’t know existed and that you kind of want to dig up your middle school lava lamp from storage. Poetically speaking, Paracosm is for the asleep and the awake, it is both whimsical and profound, it is mysterious and straightforward, it is childlike and mature.

A recent increase in the release of singles paired with quick digital access to individual songs has made listening to albums from start to finish a practice that is unfamiliar to younger generations. This album, however, begs the listener to ease their way through each track and enjoy Greene’s work in its entirety. What is most satisfying about Paracosm is the way in which every song flows into the next. From beginning to end, Paracosm is glowing. Every song has an aura in the form of a sound that can only be described as a glow, connoting the continuous motion of life. Despite the constancy of this glow and the comprehensive cohesiveness of the album, Greene is able to make each song distinct, successfully sidestepping critiques like “it all sounds the same”. He achieves a unique connectedness, allowing the album to be enjoyed as multiple parts that construct a body.

Paracosm: an imaginary world that is known only by the individual who creates it.

While it is not clear whether the paracosm referred to is Greene’s own, this album details a day within a utopia that the listener has been allowed entrance to, thus the first song.

“Entrance”/”It All Feels Right”: The closest tangible experience “Entrance” can be compared to is that moment in the morning on a bright day, when the sunlight streams through your window and you’re no longer asleep but still not quite awake. Without using lyrics or a melody, Greene captures the feeling of having one foot in a dream and the other in reality. The song rotates, builds, then climaxes into the second track, “It All Feels Right” - you’re now in the paracosm, and the title of this track says it all. In fact, it seems the album is simply a how-to on feeling good. This song captures the beginnings of a perfect day, with no responsibilities or worries. This is when Paracosm becomes relatively psychological. What is the source of our anxiety? Why is there a deficit of leisure in our lives? How do we let go of what holds us back?

“Don’t Give Up”: Hopeless romantics - brace yourselves. Though all of Paracosm is dripping in romanticism, there are a few tracks in particular that can be specifically categorized as love songs; among them - the third track. This song is about stumbling upon a past love, remembering how right their presence felt, and discounting the choices and circumstances that separated you both in the first place. A groovy dream-pop vibe makes this track simultaneously reminiscent of the 60s and timelessly sentimental, which speaks to the versatility of the album’s overall feel.

“Weightless”: This is possibly the most sonically satisfying song on the album. If you were to attempt to recreate the sound of crashing waves with a synthesizer, this is what you would most likely get. No matter what medium it is played through, “Weightless” breathes, creating a light-bodied physical sensation and clear-headed mental state, like you’re left with nothing but the sound of your heartbeat and an air of positive energy. Lyrically, “Weightless” is about leaving behind what weighs you down and the awakening that follows.

“All I Know”: The fifth track continues the romantic narrative that Greene began in “Don’t Give Up”. It seems the narrator’s love interest has left their mark on everything. “All I know” is the perfect driving-on-a-warm-day, windows-down, bright-eyed song, and it captures being in love and finding every trace of what makes you feel good in another person. Like that feeling, this song is absolute ecstasy.

“Great Escape”/”Paracosm”: The sixth and seventh tracks slow down and cleverly elaborate on the theme of “Weightless”. There’s a certain appeal to running away and being alone together with someone you’re in love with, and that’s the fantasy entertained here. Luckily in a paracosm, anything goes, and dreams manifest themselves in your perceived reality. The psychedelic sound of these songs serves as a representation of the expansion of consciousness experienced within the paracosm, reemphasizing the narrator’s separation from reality.

“Falling Back”: This is the celebration of rekindled romance, when you fall back into someone despite the barriers that should keep you both apart. It is, essentially, about “falling back” in love again because you know it ~drum roll~ feels right. There is an upbeat, on-cloud-nine sound that reflects the narrator’s “this is too good to be true” attitude. The majority of the song is a combination of youthful and surreal, like a bike ride on a pleasant summer evening. Then, the song transitions to tender. The last minute of this track is easily the most beautiful sixty seconds of the album. It is warm, soft, sensual, nostalgic, passionate - every feeling you can imagine that accompanies reuniting with a lover.

“All Over Now”: Talk about an 80s movie outro - sentimental and evocative. It’s almost like this song is playing in slow motion so the listener can collect their thoughts and reflect. The creator of the paracosm has found the complete escape they’ve been pursuing and can finally rest. It’s euphoric, being with someone you care about and knowing that you can sit with them and with yourself and simply exist for a moment.

“Pull You Down”/”Exit”: Bonus tracks - the champagne of songs. “Pull You Down” and “Exit” are not part of the studio album, but are certainly welcomed additions. “Pull You Down” is a change of pace, lacking the colorfulness that is ever-present throughout the album. Perhaps it is meant to symbolize the narrator leaving the paracosm and being pulled back to reality. “Exit”, the finale, is a total juxtaposition of “Entrance” - still a wordless, tuneless swirl of beautiful noises, but winding-down rather than building-up.

Your final thought might be something like “Ernest Greene, you dog”. Well... lather, rinse, repeat; there are new feelings and thoughts to discover through this album every time you listen to it. The bottom line is, Washed Out is the king of chillwave, checking every box the genre requires and then some. When you finally ease into it, his music will leave you relaxed, captivated, and/or in the midst of an oddly enjoyable existential crisis. Regardless, you will have found your next obsession.