PVRIS (pronounced “Paris”) is a pop rock band from Massachusetts. They were originally called Paris, but had to change the name due to legal reasons. The band consists of Lyndsey “Lynn Gunn” Gunnulfsen (vocals, guitar, keyboards) and Brian MacDonald (bass, guitar, keyboards). The band formerly had Alex Babinski (guitar, keyboards), Kyle Anthony (vocals, keyboards) and Brad Griffin (drums) as members.
Their debut album, White Noise, was released in November of 2014, and features songs such as “My House”, “St. Patrick”, and “Holy”. This album, as well as the band's overall aesthetics, take lots of inspiration from ghosts, horror movies, and black and white imagery. They've also released music videos for each of the ten songs off the album (plus a bonus track), which are all loosely interconnected and meant to be watched in chronological order.note Following the release of White Noise, the band achieved a sudden unexpected success, being hailed “breakout band of 2014”, getting bumped up from side stage to main stage partway through Warped Tour 2015, and winning several awards.
They released their second album, All We Know of Heaven, All We Need of Hell, in August 2017. They've released videos for "Heaven"
, "What's Wrong", and "Anyone Else".
Discography
- Paris EP (2013)
- Acoustic EP (2014)
- White Noise (2015)
- All We Know of Heaven, All We Need of Hell (2017)
- Hallucinations EP (2019)
- Use Me (2020)
Tropes
- A God Am I: "Goddess"
- Album Closure: "Nola 1", the final track of All We Know of Heaven, All We Need of Hell, is much more gentle and instrospective than the rest of the album.
- Batter Up!: Bats appear in the music videos for both “St. Patrick” and “Fire”, though it's the latter where they do the most damage, being used to smash up plate, TVs, glasses, and other junk.
- Break Up Song:
- Several songs from All We Know of Heaven, All We Need of Hell. It could even be argued that this is a break-up album.
- Use Me also has several.
- Cover Song:
- "Talking Body" by Tove Lo.
- "Chandelier" by Sia.
- "Are You Ten Years Ago" by Tegan & Sara.
- Cute Ghost Girl: Ghost Lynn in the music video for "White Noise". While she can be shown yelling at the television set filled with static, she can brush her hair and blow drying it while a handheld floats by, being pinned to her bedroom wall and staying away from a light-filled closet door.
- Darker and Edgier:
- All We Know of Heaven, All We Need of Hell. Hopeless lyrics all around, and all the warmth removed from the music.
- "Animal" and "Goddess" are unusually heavy songs for the band's post All We Know of Heaven, All We Need of Hell-era.
- Deliberately Monochrome: Most of their music videos, photoshoots, and other promotional images are either in black and white or are very desaturated, barring the occasional Splash of Color. Even their stage setup for live shows is monochromatic. All the band's instruments and equipment are either black or white, they all wear black clothes and the lighting usually sticks to being pure white, with some elements of colour depending on the song.
- Demoted to Extra: The other members of the band after All We Know of Heaven, All We Need of Hell. They no longer feature in music videos, album covers, official photography or even interviews.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Their first two EPs are in more of a Post-Hardcore style and don't feature the electronics or pop influences that would characterise White Noise.
- Electromagnetic Ghosts: The music video and lyrics for "White Noise". It's about a ghost causing interference while trying to communicate with the living.
- Fan Disservice: Any time Lynn indulges in her fascination with the macabre, it can turn into this territory very quickly.
- The music video for "What's Wrong" has a bunch of half naked girls dancing around Lynn, while she's singing about being miserable and looking about 70% of the way to a breakdown.
- I Am the Band: Lynn. It was revealed in the run-up to the release of Use Me that Lynn had actually always written all of the songs and performed most of the instruments in the studio, and that the rest of the band would be taking a step back to reflect that.
- She isn't the only original member left, though. Brian has also consistently been in the band since it formed.
- Lighter and Softer: Use Me is this musically, but definitely not lyrically.
- Love Is a Drug: "Use Me"
- Ms. Fanservice: Lynn isn't afraid of showing some skin. This ranges from Zettai Ryouiki (the video for "My House") to Navel-Deep Neckline (the video for "What's Wrong?") to being fully naked while curled up on the floor (the video for "You and I"). She'll also sometimes bare her midriff.
- She rarely shows any skin when she's not doing a music video or photoshoot though, and often dresses quite modestly when she's on stage. The most amount of skin she usually shows on stage is either a bare midriff or a navel-deep neckline.
- New Sound Album:
- White Noise is a pop rock album that sounded very different to their earlier EPs.
- All We Know of Heaven, All We Need of Hell is noticeably Darker and Edgier than White Noise.
- Use Me moved away from much of the pop rock sound of their previous two albums and more into dark pop territory. This included influences from hip-hop and RnB.
- Once an Episode: The mirror reflecting static that opens all of their videos for their first album.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Lynn's full name is pretty rarely used.
- Out-of-Genre Experience:
- "Ghosts" sounds more like the band's earlier post-hardcore work than the rest of White Noise. It's guitar-driven, and doesn't have anywhere near as many of the synths and samples as other tracks on the album do.
- "What's Wrong" is mainly a dancey electronic track... except for the bridge section, where Lynn goes almost out of nowhere into full-on metalcore screams.
- "Loveless" is an acoustic song on an album that mainly features a lot of electronics and pop production.
- "Use Me" has lots of trip-hop and hip-hop influences and a guest appearance from rapper 070 Shake.
- Paranormal Investigation: Alex and Brian investigate Lynn (who plays a ghost) in the music video for “White Noise”. They don't really do anything useful (besides film everything and go where they're not supposed to), so they're likely not experts in their field.
- Phantom-Zone Picture: The music video for "Anyone Else" has each band member face a painting which pulls them in and traps them.
- Precision F-Strike: Lynn usually doesn't swear in her lyrics. When she does, you know she means business.
- "Nightmare"
"Fuck your California dreams"- "Death of Me"
"If it gets in the wrong hands, then we're fucked"- "Goddess" has two examples.
"This shit is so exhausting""I'm a motherfucking brand"- This even extends to her speaking in interviews. She'll only swear if she wants to really emphasise a point.
- Religion Rant Song: "Holy", of the hate the faithful type. It's Lynn taking a swipe at Holier Than Thou Christians who use their religious beliefs as an excuse to be bigoted or disrespectful to others. She argues that they behave that way because they're insecure about themselves. Considering that Lynn is openly gay and has admitted to being fascinated with the occult since she was young, it's absolutely based on some real-life experiences.
- Rule of Three: Referenced and employed in “Mirrors”:Say your name into a mirror three times, said it three times, said it three times
- Self-Referential Track Placement: "Half," about Double Consciousness, is track #2 on its album.
- Shout-Out: The "White Noise" music video is basically a homage of the 1982 classic, Poltergeist.
- Splash of Color: While most of their music videos don't employ a lot of colour, a brighter red shows up in two of them – Lynn's shirt in “White Noise” and some parts of “Fire”.
- Surprisingly Gentle Song:
- "Nola 1" on All We Know of Heaven, All We Need of Hell. It's much more gentle and restrained than the rest of the album.
- "Loveless" on Use Me. It's an acoustic song with very little of the electronic elements of the rest of the album.
- Title Track: "White Noise", "Hallucinations" and "Use Me".
- Unflinching Walk: The end of the “Fire” music video has the three of them walking away from the fire they were using to burn stuff.
- Unusual Eyebrows: Lynn's distinctive partially-shaved left eyebrow, which matches her hair's shaved sides, as well.
