Kings Of The Castle? Palace's Debut Escapes The Indie Brand
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Old Subbacultcha
Old Subbacultcha
London quartet Palace bring us their debut ‘Lost In The Night'. A stunningly composed album that has put this indie-rock/pop group on the map as a haunting go-to for any mood.
Debut EP released 20/10[/caption]
The EP opener ‘Bitter’ was pre-released alongside ‘Veins’ a few weeks earlier, the group giving us two excellent tracks to wet our appetites. The sound they’ve created is something of Foals meets Kings of Leon, rolling guitar and simmering drums underneath Leo Wyndham’s lazy and classically indie vocals – his native London accent consciously thickened over every vowel.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEB0zUPUr8oShort and sweet, the five track release still manages to shoehorn the breadth of Palace’s sound into their debut. There’s something grungy about certain tracks, such as ‘Ocean Deep’, where the moaning guitar and bass of the verses melts into a lifted chorus, Matt Hodge’s drums dragging us out of the sleepy verse. There’s something almost nirvana-esque in the number’s disrupted melancholy.
My personal favourite is the title track ‘Lost In The Night’, the beautiful vocals and the slow tambourine taps punctuate a folky, drifting pop song. Lost in the Night is an easy listener and a feel-good record that almost defies a genre title that is oh-so-tempting to whack onto it.
Take a moment to listen deeper to the pained lyrics. Wyndham projects floating images with both his words and tone; ‘just like the calm before the storm you’ve had your thrills’. The constantly changing time signatures effortlessly change the tone from verse to chorus to verse, as Leo and the boys strum their guitars and hauntingly chant melancholy poetry.
Palace are a talented bunch with an interesting take on the oversold ‘indie’ brand. They’ve taken a teen genre and added their own spin to create a nostalgic sound for the nineties/noughties crossover generation that is mature, interesting and listenable.
‘Lost in the Night’ is released 20/10 on Beatnik Creative.
Twitter: @thepalacebandSoundcloud Words by Graeme du Plessis
