Motherfish #20- And Let My Army be the Rocks and the Trees

Album of the Week

So I had some sort of a specific kind of plan-like thing for this week. I lost it. I know, I know. But I have something for you anyway! Don’t you all just love me? This week’s band and I have an interesting history full of sex, drugs, and unreasonable quantities of books about science. Not really. But, consider today’s review less a cynical man ranting his near-worthless opinion about music and more a journey of mind and body. Now if you’re really good at picking up subtext, you could read those last few sentences as "IM A LAZY BASTARD AND FOR SOME REASON IM GOING TO SLACK OFF THIS WEEK”. Which is a little true. Basically, because next week is going to be a pretty crazy week around here (got a special review planned), I’ve been focusing a lot of effort on the oldest son that is June 23rd and sort of neglected today like the middle child that it is. Harsh, but true. Let’s do this.

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Be Bold and Might Forces Will Come To Your Aid by Palma

Fuck this band. I must have listened to this album sixteen or seventeen times in the past month and a half and I can’t decide for the life of me if I like it or not. The conclusion that I reached is that whether I like the music or not, I like the album. Wait, that’s totally convoluted. Not really. This band brought an interesting issue to light; the value of a band beyond its music. I don’t know if Palma was consciously aware of this when they recorded the album or not, but regardless, it rewards you more for thinking about it rather than for listening to it. Palma comes off as one of the few bands who create music that, though great to listen to, serves primarily to convey a feeling. Basically the band cares about what I think when I’m sitting here playing their album. That isn’t me making excuses for shoddy musicianship, not even close. The quality of the songs on the album is basically solid, with a few pitfalls but mostly gems. Their lead guitarist, whoever he is, has some chops. As a guitar player, I can appreciate when a degree of technical ability is well blended with creative songwriting, so they definitely get the seal of approval for that. The thing is, despite all of that, the album can come off as bland or even cheap sounding, that is to say formulaic. Which is fucking bizarre, to say the least. The singer is another issue. He sounds like a strange combination of Julian Casablancas (of The Strokes) and Thom Yorke (of Radiohead) but a little more foreign at times. He sounds totally different on the last two tracks. I can’t figure out exactly what it is, but something’s changed. For all that the album does wrong, which isn’t that much, it does so much right! So, I’m willing to look past that. But I wasn’t at first. You see, this is what makes the band so interesting to me.

At first, I wrote them off as some weird noise-pop Radiohead knockoff touting around like their shit don’t stink and they think they’re going to be the next Shins. And even though that’s what they sound like, that’s not who they are. Be Bold has a superpower-like ability to blend in with whatever your current thought process is and meld perfectly to your natural brain function. You can throw this album on in the background and, no matter what you happen to be doing, it will just exist. It’s kind of cool, all things considered. They’ve got a pretty groovy sound that I would consider good to dance to, something in the vein of Franz Ferdinand. It’s clear what the bands intentions were with Be Bold, and they didn’t fall short. And though I’ve done my best to explain what I think when I listen to Palma, it’s still unclear why exactly I can listen to a band whose music is overall solid but not outstanding and still walk away feeling like I’ve experienced a work of musical genius. I recommend the album, because it’s not easy to like or hate. Listening to Be Bold is a good way to get a handle on what your musical tastes are because in order to commit to some sort of decision over whether you like it or not, you’re going to need to sit down with it and give it a few listens. There are moments when you cry in terror, but moments when you weep because of its beauty.

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Yeah so Palma really got me thinking. Which is what I like. I enjoy the album because it forces me to really consider what I value in a band to consider them ‘good’ or ‘bad’. You’ll have to judge for yourself. Remember to check back next week because I have a really cool review planned. And also- FUCK I GOT IT! Ok, and the end of the album, for some WEIRD reason, the lead singer sounds exponentially less foreign. And his voice is lower. Erroneous.


Here, have a listen: