Palace Winter, the electro-indie, Australian/Danish duo of Carl Coleman and Caspar Hesselager, have bubbled under the radar since they released their excellent (but largely ignored) debut LP Waiting for the World to Turn almost ten years ago. But they’re still yet to break through in a scene crammed full of synth-heavy, mid-tempo guitar pop.
While that is unlikely to change with the release of their fourth LP Confessions of Mr. Nowhere, there’s still plenty here to love.
On first listen there is little evidence of real deviation from the band’s signature sound. The album is, like its predecessors, awash with keyboards, guitar arpeggios and lush harmonies. But on closer listening, there are signs of subtle evolution to be found. On the single Does That Include Television? the synths give way to a distorted Rhodes piano for a surprisingly groovy breakdown. Inget Val features a spoken word/rap backing vocal which, while not exactly ground-breaking, does serve as a welcome counterpoint to Coleman’s mid-range vocals.
Telepathic turns a riff which could easily have come from a 1980’s video game into an essential anchor for an otherwise-listless musing (“If you could only ease my mind, ‘cause we’re only wasting time, we can leave it all behind”)
Overall, the arrangements and production feel denser, tighter and less riff-driven than on previous efforts. And while this is most evident on chugging opening track Mr. Nowhere (a bouncy, Ian-Brown-meets-late-period-Supergrass foot tapper), this album confirms that Palace Winter are consistently at their best when they slow things down. Just Slide, perfectly positioned in the middle of the tracklist (and reminiscent of two of the band’s previous high water marks, 2015’s Woke in the Night, The Phone Was Ringing and 2016’s What Happened) brings the heart which is absent elsewhere on the record (“Always running to a negative space…. If you break, you buy”).
Another rock-solid effort from an under-appreciated gem of a band. 3.5/5 stars.
Matthew Ambrose presents Under The Radar on Tuesday evening at 7pm on Abbey104. Broadcasting on 104.7FM and online at abbey104.com.
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