Since the release of their debut full-length Step Brothers, Sydney’s own Palms have been on the proverbial upward climb, gaining more outward recognition thanks to support slots from the likes of Violent Soho as well as Brisbane contemporaries Last Dinosaurs.
Now with the release of their sophomore album Crazy Rack, the Sydney quartet have upped their ante to hold focus on their unflinching summer-vibes and DIY garage-rock ethic.
The first thing you’ll notice about Crazy Rack is how there’s a more outward, carefree approach this time around, with less of a restriction on structure and more emphasis on tone and melody, being very careful to capture the energy surrounding the band in the form fuzzy guitars and pounding, surprisingly heavy drums courtesy of Tom Wallace.
Opener ‘Bad Apple’ starts the record out with a bang, with light finger-picking and eclectic drum fills backing a screeching guitar solo before piling into Al Grigg’s happy-go-lucky vocals as he echoes the song’s eponymous title, utilising various stop-start vocal techniques to keep the song’s momentum going, of which Crazy Rack has in abundance.
[include_post id=”456678″]The group effectively takes advantage of well positioned chorus chants and shrieking guitar solos to keep the listener justifiably engaged throughout the whole album without it ever erring too close to the side of melodrama, giving the whole record a much-desired grounded nature.
Even the downtrodden centerpiece of ‘No More’ still carries a sense of weight to it that abstains from feeling like the record is losing acceleration, even if it feels slightly more padded than its surrounding tracks. Despite this mostly successful ebb and flow of summery indie-rock tunes, the album’s eleven tracks come off as slightly interchangeable, and there’s no one song that stands apart from the competition, much to the record’s detriment.
That’s not to say that every track is a lost cause; the inherent heaviness found in the one-two punch of ‘In My Mind’ and ‘Beatdown’ prove to be album highlights, and while the grittier “kick-yourself-in-the-head” pub-rock aesthetic is tried and true, it’s a sound that works wonders for Palms. Moreover, the serene sense of nostalgia littered throughout ‘Photographs’ perfectly encapsulates the tone of the record as a whole without feeling forced.
However, it’s the album closer of ‘Dreamcatcher’ that sustains this tone and builds on it in several ways with Griggs’ and Dion Ford’s breezy guitar finger-picking before escalating into a heavier chorus as Griggs powers through each visceral guitar solo with gusto.
Palms are hardly innovators on their second full-length, but they’ve managed to sharpen their sound to a fine point that it deserves recognition from anybody who would consider themselves fans of either the band and genre, and for all its faults, there’s an inherent charm to Crazy Rack.
From the vibrant, summery guitar tone, to the sincerely vocalized “ooh-oh’s” “doo-dah’s” on the likes of ‘Rainbows’ and ‘Fake Stare’ respectively, it’s easy enough to get lost in its simplicity, and the home-brew sound that they’ve captured so perfectly only makes it that more relatable.
Crazy Rack is out October 30 via Ivy League Records
