The music recorded by Ernest Greene as Washed Out has been nothing if not dreamy, but for his second full-length, he’s taken the idea of letting your mind wander to another state a huge leap further. On Paracosm, due out Aug. 13 on Sub Pop, the Georgia-based musician explores the album’s namesake phenomenon, where people create detailed imaginary worlds. The concept has been used to describe fantasy lands like Tolkien’s Middle Earth and C.S. Lewis’ Narnia, and it’s at the heart of the 2004 documentary In The Realms Of The Unreal about outsider artist Henry Darger.

The idea of escaping is all over Paracosm’s lyrics, and it’s also the main thrust behind the music, which finds Greene distancing himself from the modes and methods that informed Washed Out’s previous recordings. No, he hasn’t thrown away his computer or synths, but Greene made a conscious decision to expand his sonic palette, which resulted in the employment of more than 50 different instruments, the most significant of which turned out to be old keyboards like the Mellotron, Chamberlin, Novatron, and Optigan. Designed during the middle of last century and made up of prerecorded sounds with individual notes sampled for each key of the chromatic scale (the flute sound in The Beatles’ “Strawberry Fields Forever” is a well-known example of the Mellotron in action), these relics allowed Greene to use his sampling expertise while also offering the flexibility to explore new creative avenues.

“I’ve grown as a songwriter to the point where I want to have more involved arrangements, and that’s really hard to do with sampling,” says Greene. "These machines were kind of a happy medium: The sounds have a very worn,…

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• Washed Out on MySpace
• Washed Out on Facebook
• Washed Out Website
• Washed Out on Twitter
• Washed Out on Youtube
• Booking (N. America) - Carter Adams at Windish Agency
• Booking (UK/EU) - Isla Angus at Nomanis
• Management - Ben Dickey at Constant Artists
• Washed Out is on Weird World Record Co. in Europe

Washed Out - Paracosm

SP1055 - Released: August 13, 2013

The music recorded by Ernest Greene as Washed Out has been nothing if not dreamy, and on his second full-length, Paracosm, he takes the dreamlike, otherworldly atmospheres of his…

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Full Lengths

Within and Without

High Times Cassette

Paracosm

EPs

Life of Leisure

• Washed Out - Amor Fati (MP3)
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• Washed Out - Eyes Be Closed (MP3)
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Follow the links for QuickTime videos.

• Washed Out - A Dedication (MOV)
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• Washed Out - Eyes Be Closed (MOV)
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• Washed Out - Amor Fati (MOV)
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ALL DATES »

• Promo Photo - Photo Credit: Shae DeTar

• Bio - Paracosm

• Cover - Paracosm
• Cover - High Times Cassette
• Cover - High Times Cassette
• Cover - Within and Without
• Cover - Life of Leisure
• Cover - Eyes Be Closed (Remixes)

• Filter Album Review, Within and Without, August 2011
• Billboard Album Review, Within and Without, July 2011
• LA Times Album Review, Within and Without, July 2011
• NPR Song of the Day, Eyes Be Closed, August 4, 2011
• Under the Radar Feature, All in the Family, July 2011
• AV Club Album Review Within and Without July 2011
• The Fader Feature, By the Numbers, July 2011
• Spin Album Review Within and Without, June 2011
• Art Voice Feature
• BBC Washed Out Influences Mix
• Live performance of "Far Away" w/ Yours Truly
• Spin Feature "Breaking Out: Washed Out" June 2011
• Under the Radar- Album Review of "Within and Without"
• New York Times Show Review/ Album review of "Within and Without"
• Pitchfork Album Review of "Within and Without""
• Time Out New York Feature on "Within and Without"
• " Within And Without" Premature Evaluation on Stereogum
• Death + Taxes - Album Review