[rayword45]

Day 462: Rock Island by Palm

Meant to review this a while ago but I'm lazy. This is a good album, while simultaneously being one of the most disappointing albums of the year. After the structured yet chaotic noise bursts of Trading Basics... their next LP is just math rock Animal Collective? What the hell is this progression?

It's not BAD, mind you, and I give them props for managing to incorporate MIDI steel drum without sounding cheesy as fuck. Bands need to progress and grow, but this feels less like progression and more like "playing it safe", maybe not an entirely accurate descriptor but the amount of pop here is not what I'm looking for.

Some of these songs are great math pop, for what it's worth. The first song is gorgeous, Composite has the dude singer sounding his most Panda Bear-esque, and Swimmer is a highlight with its uniquely jazzy sound. Uniquely being the key word here, because this album is too samey.

I'm excited to see where this band goes next, but I hope they make their next one a little more dangerous.

Best Track: Pearly
Rating: 5.5/10