It’s been three years since Washed Out’s last release Mister Mellow showed fans a slightly different approach to the Chillwave sound. On Mister Mellow, Ernest Greene experimented more with sounds that touched on psychedelia and beats that bordered on hip-hop. With the release of his new album Purple Noon (Sub Pop), Greene brings the sound of Washed Out back to the territory of his early material. Like Paracosm and Within and Without, the familiar Lo-Fi sonics are prevalent on Purple Noon albeit with vocals more in the forefront. The lyrics on Purple Noon are the standout element as Greene sings about a relationship’s ups and downs. The album was also inspired by a trip to Greece as well as borrowing the title from the 60’s movie of the same name based on the novel The Talented Mr. Ripley.
The album starts with a Phil Collins-esque drum fill leading into the gauzy synths and vocals of “Too Late.” Painting the picture of a blossoming romance, Greene sings, ‘…I could see in your eyes the time was right/And our night’s not over yet/Is it too late to fall in love tonight?/’Cause I’m falling hard’. The downtempo dynamics are similar on the follow-up track “Face Up”, as well as most of the album. “Face Up” and “Time to Walk Away” showcase lyrics that center around the fickleness of emotions in a relationship where one person is more invested than the other. ‘I just wanna know that/ We tried to make it work/ Before just giving up/ Are we just trying/ Too hard?’ Greene laments on “Time to Walk Away”. On “Reckless Desires,” Greene sings of being the victim of infidelity, ‘You swore that it was over/ You swore that it was through/ But every time I turn my back/ You find yourself in someone’s bed again/ The lies begin to start/ And our story falls apart’ as the synths create an equally despondent feeling. Standing out as being the only guitar-driven track on Purple Noon, “Game of Chance” captures the feeling of sitting on a beach in Greece looking out at the Mediterranean Sea with its lazily strummed acoustic guitar. On the album’s closer “Haunt”, the narrator seems to be second guessing himself after the end of the relationship as Greene sings ‘I can’t get past the things I did wrong/ Broke your heart now I can’t move on’.
While Purple Noon seems to stay fairly level in a dynamic sense, especially compared with Mister Mellow where upbeat and downbeat tracks were fairly distributed, the lyrics take the listener on a journey. Whether it’s based on Greene’s own personal experiences, or if it’s an interpretation of a relationship that might take place in the twisted lives of the characters in The Talented Mr. Ripley, Greene has created a very real slice of life in the cycle of a relationship. While not exactly “driving music,” Purple Noon is perfect for lounging around during quarantine. After all, isn’t that exactly what would expect from music regarded as Chillwave?
Photo credit: Blair Greene
