Palm has released their first new music in over four years today (July 26) with “Feathers.” The track is the lead single from the Philly-based art-rockers’ forthcoming album, Nicks and Grazes, out Oct. 14 via Saddle Creek.
Citing Japanese pop music, dub and footwork as influences on the album, Palm’s new track meshes their more recent sources of inspiration with that of artists such as Glenn Branca, Captain Beefheart and Sonic Youth, who initially contributed to the band’s formation over a decade ago. The single slowly unravels around desolate electronic elements and Eve Alpert’s serpentine vocals, giving it a simultaneously plumy, yet harsh feel. A steady collapse, “Feathers” seems to vaporize until just a few industrial-sounding notes and the glitchy repetition of “make it up” are all that’s left. The barren conclusion feels even more haunting when it seems like the rest of the band have simply vanished into thin air, a sudden disappearance that matches their elusive lyrics and transient demeanor.
‘Feathers’ went through a few drafts—I was initially playing a plodding line on the bass guitar but something about the arrangement wasn’t working,” recalls bassist Gerasimos Livitsanos. “It was only once I switched to bass synth that there was a strong enough center for the atonal guitar and synth pads to make sense. The first one we tracked in the studio, ‘Feathers’ became an undanceable dance song at the last minute.”
The single is accompanied by an austere, black-and-white, medieval-inspired music video directed by Daniel Brennan. Opening with a duel and winding its way through brushes with the supernatural and an archaic burial, the video speaks to the band’s all-encompassing artistic approach.
Check out the video for “Feathers” below, along with Palm’s 2016 Daytrotter session, and the album artwork and tracklist for Nicks and Grazes.
Nicks and Grazes Tracklist:
01. Touch and Go
02. Feathers
03. Parable Lickers
04. Eager Copy
05. Brille
06. On The Sly
07. And Chairs
08. Away Kit
09. Suffer Dragon
10. Mirror Mirror
11. Glen Beige
12. Tumbleboy
13. Nicks and Grazes
Nicks and Grazes Art:
