PALMS @ Echo

Cryptacize

The sweet, rich vocals of Nedelle Torisi (who’s released a few solo albums as Nedelle) and the band’s theatrical scale may earn them some comparisons to Lavender Diamond, but the Dig That Treasure is closer to that of Young People’s War Prayers—that combination of suppression and ecstasy, the tension that emerges between the familiar and the buried. “Cosmic Sing-A-Long”, the midpoint of Dig That Treasure, opens with Torisi and guitarist Chris Cohen (of Deerhoof and Curtains) harmonizing. As each takes the foreground, drummer Michael Carreira starts playing something that’s less a beat than a vibration. “Every note is an unfinished song,” they sing, their voices melding perfectly. The instrumentation is sparse but the ornamentation is considerable; there’s a sense of tackling ages-old questions with the most minimal setup possible, of rushing at the cosmic with a handful of notes and a singular drumbeat by your side. And yet Cryptacize gets a solid amount from that; they’re idealistic enough to make that rush, but jaded enough to know that it doesn’t come without cost. – Paper Thin Walls

with:
Becky Stark (from Lavender Diamond)
Palms