Photo: Shae DeTar
Paracosm, the second studio album from Washed Out, (US singer, songwriter and producer Ernest Greene), is a conscious move in a different direction for the man so often dubbed as the pioneer of the ‘chill wave’ music scene. His new record comes as a richly warm and acoustic offering and he reveals to us what triggered such prominent stylistic changes.
Having grown up in Georgia, Atlanta, Greene recalls how early on, he felt the need to rebel against the traditional and bluesy music scene the city is known for.“My dad loved rock music and bluesy guitar stuff. I was listening to hip hop music which is the opposite of that," he tells us.
He cites people like DJ Shadow and Fourtet as big influences when writing the first couple of Washed Out records, which were at the time, heavily into sample based productions using a handful of synthisizers.
Touching on his constant tag as a chill-wave musician, he recognises his involvement in earlier work but draws the line at Paracosm. "The idea of chill wave and whatever that represents doesn't play into what I was making with this new record. I'm most concerned with moving forward and evolving. I don't want to be pigeon-holed in that way."
It was whilst exploring the direction of his second album that Greene discovered the freedom in using acoustic instruments, which as a result, has opened up his sound to a whole new scope. The addition of instruments was a crucial stylistic change on the record and meant he moved away from a purely synthisized method. Greene found himself using 50 different instruments on Paracosm. “I didn’t plan on using that many”, he says, “I fell down the rabbit hole.”
Emphasising how he wanted to create a day dream sounding experience, Greene states how he naturally writes dreamy, nostalgic songs. “It made sense to use these very warm sounding instruments to achieve that."
The dreamy style links directly to the album title 'Paracosm', an imaginary and fantasy world. That idea of escapism and magic was an integral influence for the record. “Alice In Wonderland was a rough theme, falling down the rabbit hole and when she opens her eyes she's in this new fantastical place. That was kind of the idea for the opening of the record."
On the (brilliant) new album, Greene uses hypnotic sounds which build into a crescendo in the album to give the idea of an entrance into another place. "I could see this world being built piece by piece, with an instrumental part or a vocal. I guess I'm a visual person anyway and I was just seeing it unfold in front of my eyes.”
Overall, the new record seems to be a liberating experience for Greene. “I wasn’t thinking about whether it was going to be successful. For this record I just started making music for fun this time, I guess I felt a lot more pressure on the last one. With Paracosm it felt more like when I first started out, I was just going to explore new sounds and see where it went.”
Greene reveals that he’s in the process of scheduling dates for a tour in the UK later in the year. “I’ve been at home long enough now, I'm ready to get back on the road and fall into the adventures that always seem to happen in a new place.”
The Washed Out album Paracosm is out on August 12.
