Album Review: Palms – Crazy Rack (2015 LP)

Coming into summer in Australia means barbecues, beers, sunny afternoons and of course your favourite iPod mix. Playing throughout your mates backyard, river campsite or wherever you’ve decided to set up should be Palms’ new album Crazy Rack. This feel good summer vibe album was only dropped a bit over a week ago by Sydney’s indie pop rockers but hasn’t had any trouble gaining attention on social media.

With a title like Crazy Rack you wouldn’t quite know what to expect. Sex, drugs and rock n roll right? Wrong. Most of the songs are about… well… life. Not being ready to settle down, living the life of a sleepy teenager, thinking what could have been with that one person and being tackled by the struggles that life decides to throw at you. Some might think it sounds rather depressing but don’t knock it ‘til you’ve tried it. Palms will gobble you up and spit you out with the ooh’s and aah’s they’ve created within fun melodic tracks.

Number one track on the LP is “Bad Apples”. Released as a single before the launch of Crazy Rack, this song created the hype around the album and it was sure something to make a big deal about. An indie rock album wouldn’t be what it is without an opening of distorted guitar and constant slaps of a snare drum. Catchy chorus sing-a-longs and tambourine shakes are the perfect characteristics to a song that can make you dream about the warm summer weekends that approach.

It’s common on any album that there’s always one song that jumps out and sticks to you. The one you find humming to yourself every second minute of the day. Palms have managed to create an LP that contains every bit of what’s needed to make those songs, only it’s every song on there. If you’re not hypnotised by the up and down fun lyrics from front man Al then you aren’t human – not to mention the groovy quick bass lines and background rhythm claps that help to add that vibe we were talking about earlier. Every track holds its own unique riff, whether it’s fuzzy, melodic or clean acoustic, it does exactly what needs to be done – make you fall in love with it.

Getting a special mention is the track that splits the middle of the LP, “No More”. You can never go wrong with simplistic acoustic chords and lyrics that explain the broken love story from the past. Not a single drum is touched throughout this song, but the addition of a tambourine to keep us in time with the chorus is exactly what was needed. When hearing this for the first time all I could imagine was dimmed lights over a live crowd swaying and clapping their hands to the solo talent of Palms’ lead singer.

Cue a fuzzy chord opening, in comes the soft yet meaningful lyrics from Al and you’ve got yourself the tenth track of eleven, “Photographs”. If you took away the fuzz to pure acoustic it could be compared to The Vines’ song “Autumn Shade”, but this is Palms – the new era of Australian pop rock. Bringing us reinvented addictive sounds that give us hope for more generations of rock within our country.

Order of songs on an album is crucial, what do you leave the listener with? Palms have chosen a delightful soft melodic song, but still give us a taste of their hard head banging side within the chorus, hitting us with strong power chords and sharp solos. Easing the eleventh and final tune out with a gorgeous guitar riff sets the mood of the album perfectly. They came in strong but left us with the true skills they have to write something so soft but powerful.

Review score: 8 out of 10

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To grab a copy of Crazy Rack or for more information on Palms click here.

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