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**Paracosm by Washed Out: A Dreamy Descent into Suburban Psychedelia**

Ernest Greene's second full-length effort as Washed Out finds the chillwave pioneer diving headfirst into a kaleidoscopic world of his own making, emerging with what might be his most cohesive and emotionally resonant work to date. "Paracosm," released in August 2013, represents a significant evolution from the hazy bedroom recordings that first put Greene on the map, trading lo-fi intimacy for lush, meticulously crafted soundscapes that feel like floating through a fever dream in slow motion.

The album's title, referring to a detailed imaginary world created in one's mind, perfectly encapsulates Greene's artistic vision here. Each track feels like a different room in some impossible house of mirrors, where childhood memories blend with adult anxieties and suburban ennui transforms into something approaching transcendence. It's a marked departure from the more immediate pleasures of his breakthrough moments, demanding patience while rewarding careful listeners with layers of meaning that reveal themselves over repeated visits.

Musically, Greene has expanded his palette considerably since his early cassette releases and 2011's "Within and Without." While still rooted in the dreamy, reverb-soaked aesthetic that defined early chillwave, "Paracosm" incorporates elements of ambient techno, new age mysticism, and even hints of krautrock's hypnotic pulse. The production, handled by Greene himself alongside Ben H. Allen III, achieves a remarkable balance between the organic and the synthetic, with live drums breathing life into programmed sequences and analog warmth softening digital precision.

The album's standout moments showcase this expanded sonic vocabulary to stunning effect. "Don't Give Up" opens the record with a statement of intent, its pulsing bassline and cascading synths creating an immediate sense of forward momentum that the old Washed Out might have been content to let drift. "All I Know" follows with perhaps the album's most infectious groove, its subtle funk undertones and Greene's wordless vocal melodies creating something that feels both nostalgic and futuristic. Meanwhile, "Great Escape" serves as the record's emotional centerpiece, its nine-minute runtime allowing ideas to develop and breathe in ways that feel genuinely cinematic.

The influence of Greene's Southern upbringing permeates the album, but filtered through layers of psychedelic processing that make familiar feelings strange again. There's something distinctly American about "Paracosm's" particular brand of suburban surrealism, evoking lazy summer afternoons that stretch into infinity and the peculiar loneliness of strip mall parking lots at sunset. It's music for air-conditioned spaces and fluorescent lighting, finding beauty in the mundane through sheer force of imagination.

Coming off the underground success of his early EPs and the critical acclaim of "Within and Without," Greene faced the challenge of proving that chillwave could evolve beyond its initial novelty. "Paracosm" answers that question decisively, demonstrating that the genre's core appeal—its ability to create immersive emotional environments—could support more ambitious artistic statements. The album arrived at a time when many of Greene's contemporaries were either abandoning the chillwave sound entirely or doubling down on its most superficial elements.

Greene's journey to "Paracosm" began in the most humble circumstances imaginable. Working as a librarian in rural Georgia, he started recording dreamy, sample-heavy tracks in his bedroom using basic equipment and posting them online. The breakthrough came with 2009's "Feel It All Around," a hypnotic slice of summery nostalgia that became the theme song for the IFC series "Portlandia" and helped define an entire micro-genre. Subsequent releases like "Life of Leisure" and "Within and Without" established him as one of chillwave's most consistent practitioners, but also raised questions about where the sound could go next.

Today, "Paracosm" stands as a high-water mark in Greene's catalog and a testament to chillwave's untapped potential. While the genre may have peaked commercially in the early 2010s, this album's influence can be heard in everything from contemporary R&B to ambient house music. It's a record that rewards both casual listening and deep analysis, functioning equally well as background music for late-night drives and as a complex artistic statement about memory, place, and the power of imagination to transform ordinary experience into something magical. In an era of increasingly fractured attention spans, "