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NBHAP Rating: 4/5
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[one_half last=”yes”]PALMA VIOLETS
Danger In The Club
Release-Date: 04.05.2015
Label: Rough Trade
Tracklist:
1. Sweet Violets
2. Hollywood (I Got It)
3. Girl, You Couldn’t Do Much Better On The Beach
4. Danger in the Club
5. Coming Over to My Place
6. Secrets of America
7. The Jacket Song
8. Matador
9. Gout! Gang! Go!
10. Walking Home
11. Peter and the Gun
12. No Money Honey
13. English Tongue
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The coolest kids in town
It can be tough being the coolest new kids in town. PALMA VIOLETS discovered this in their early days, when their impromptu gigs suddenly attracted a swarm of journalists, who immediately plastered them on magazine covers and gave them the backlash-prompting title of ‘Big New Thing’. PALMA VIOLETS came through that storm to deliver an excellent debut album, 180, and now have the benefit of delivering their second effort, Danger In the Club, from a much more secure position as an established band.
‘I Don’t Want To Drink Or Score’
The record hits a melancholic tone in places, and this is the most obvious departure from 180. A line on Walking Home sums the new mood up: “I don’t want to drink or score”. That statement would have been unimaginable in the perpetual fun-hunting atmosphere on 180. There are splashes mournfulness across the album, from bluesy acoustic track The Jacket Song to the wistful Coming Over To My Place. There’s also a greater level of musical variety. Whereas on 180 there was a tendency for the musical elements to blur together into the songs’ tidal wave drive, Danger in the Club explores new musical corners. It doesn’t always work out (English Tongue’s shiny strumming and piano leans a little too close to Britpop), but the thumping drums and nagging, insistent riff on Matador adds to the song’s dramatic bleakness and showcases the PALMA’s capacity for trying out new styles.
On The Brink Of Falling Apart
Despite the progressions, the breakneck momentum that characterised their first album remains. Songs pulverise their way towards their conclusion at such rattling speed that you feel they’re constantly on the brink of falling apart. Hollywood (I Got It) is the kind of wild swaggering fairground ride that rattles your bones and leaves you gasping for breath. Gout! Gang! Go!’s opening jittery riff sets the tone for a song supercharged with hollering force. Lead single Danger in The Club is a distillation of all they do best; gang vocals, chaotic scuttling riffs and stylistic shifts and swerves all roll into three and a half minutes of vintage indie-rock. On Danger in the Club, PALMA VIOLETS have managed to retain the hyperactive manic energy of their debut while also adding a greater layer of depth and variety.
PALMA VIOLETS manage to expand their range on album number two, while still retaining the sense of reckless, hedonistic fun that’s quickly becoming their calling-card.
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