White Lung - Paradise

Paradise is the White Lung album where the melodies finally caught up to the speed. Released by Domino in 2016, the Vancouver band's fourth record kept the ferocity of Deep Fantasy but gave the songs room to breathe, and the result is the most accessible thing they ever made without sounding remotely softened.

Mish Way's writing turned outward here, working through beauty standards, motherhood, and violence across ten tightly constructed songs. "Hungry" and "Kiss Me When I Bleed" pair genuine hooks with Kenneth William's relentless, high-register guitar figures, while "Below" and "Dead Weight" hit as hard as anything in the catalog. Producer Lars Stalfors gave the record a cleaner, more spacious mix than its predecessor, and Sterling Sound handled the cut.

It turned out to be the band's last statement for six years, and it remains the album most people reach for first. Fast, melodic, and genuinely menacing all at once.

This LP pressing comes via Domino, pressed at United Record Pressing. A high point of 2010s punk, and one that still sounds urgent.