Looking for new music? Surry born band ‘Palm Reader’ have recently released a brand new single, ‘Willow.’
Before listening to Willow, I had not heard any of Palm Readers other music. Currently, on Spotify, they hold three albums and 6 singles and are yet to release their new album Sleepless, on November 27th with Willow being the teaser single for the upcoming album.
Willow
Suffice to say the song itself is enjoyable to listen to. Beginning soft, I didn’t know what to expect, I assumed that this band was going to be focused more towards the indie or emo crowd, judging by the vocals, but the drop into the instrumental pleasantly surprised me. The groove hidden in the riffs on the bridge to the chorus was interesting reminding me of the band ‘Northlane’ at times yet remaining original to their own sound after the chorus and certain parts of the bridge towards the outro remind me of the best bits about ‘Gojira’s’ ‘Link’ album, with well thought out and beautifully harmonised riffs. The lyricism in this track is fantastic, Vocalist Josh Mckeown said the songs lyrics are about a ‘’heart-breaking story of loss and young motherhood.’’ The way that this is explored is beautiful, mentioning of a ‘Willow’ and the strength it takes to ‘leave a light behind’ leave a powerful but harrowing view on how someone who will seem weak because of who they are will grow to become something better in time. The track is astounding from a very underrated band and although it takes a few listens to understand the well thought lyricism and instrumentals that the band clearly have a knack for it becomes an un-skippable gem.
What about their other music?
After listening to their 2018 album ‘Braille’, their 2013 album ‘Bad Weather’ and their most popular single ‘Hold/Release’, its clear that these artists have always had their own sound, clearly influenced by other artists in the genre but with their own unique way of handling it. Their roots are clearly in the hardcore genre with tracks like ‘Spineless’ focusing on mean riffs and insane vocals that do nothing but make me appreciate these artists. So far after listening to two of their albums ‘Bad Weather’ stands to be my favourite. Unique instrumentals that never left it boring and the insane variation of each track simply amazes me. Listening to one track from ‘bad weather’ and another from the same album seem so different in sound but as a whole the album simply flows through as if it where all one song broken up by riffs that are produced in a way that is astounding.
By the looks of it their new album ‘Sleepless’ is a definite purchase as they aim to explore sombre and meaningful tones as captured in the music video for ‘Willow.’
Whether in pure aggression or beautifully crafted riffs they definitely have the ability to go far in the modern metal era so long as they never forget the hardcore roots of their music and they continue trying to push their sound to new levels they will only become better as both musicians and in the industry.
THE UN-SKIPPABLES
Check out their other albums, as I shall continue to do, until their new album Sleepless gets released on November 27th