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“Walkie Talkie”

Image may contain Art and Paper
  • Genre:

    Rock

  • Label:

    Carpark

  • Reviewed:

    April 26, 2017

Taken from the upcoming EP, Shadow Expert

Palm are carrying the torch for freaky art-rock. The Philadelphia band build harmonies from coarse, atonal punk, reviving the noise of vintage Black Dice and eccentric song structures of Battles. “Walkie Talkie,” the first single off their Carpark Records debut Shadow Expert, is a colorfully chaotic introduction to their world.

“Walkie Talkie” avoids traditional verse-chorus song structures, which could sound disorganized, but instead their songs have the calculated illogic of an M.C. Escher painting: dissonant chords, constant tonal shifts, and tight percussion. The song’s tempo is unstable, held together by guitarists/vocalists Kasra Kurt and Eve Alpert’s prickly chords and wonky singing. Alpert rotates between sugary falsettos and stubborn shouts, avoiding harmonies with Kurt, who in turn trips over himself to finish her sentences. The guitars follow in a similar pattern, their plucks chasing after each other. On “Walkie Talkie,” Palm sprint through the musical equivalent of a three-legged race and manage to stay nimble the entire way.