I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: June 24, 2017] Palm

I saw Palm open for Dilly Dally last year and I enjoyed their set a lot.  I instantly found their bandcamp site and downloaded Trading Basics (Ostrich Vacation is a bit more out there).  This show at PhilaMOCA was ostensibly an album release party for their new EP, Shadow Expert.  But when I asked the bassist if that meant the were going to throw confetti he just laughed.  Later Eve Alpert said she was really blown away that so many people came (it was sold out).  So it was cool to be at that show.

I was really excited to see them in such a small place and I planted myself right up front to watch what they were doing (those chords!).  After about four songs someone came thundering in from who knows where and started slam dancing (she was the only one), and I wound up pretty far back after that, which sucked.  It was also really really stupid hot in there, but Palm transcended the scene and played an awesome set.

They played most (but I don’t think all) of the new EP.  It even sounded like they may have thrown in some brand new songs too, but I’m not sure.  They started with “Walkie Talkie” and the opening strange chords and notes of the EP–it’s so interesting to watch them play this stuff.  And the fact that they are perfectly in sync and never miss a beat is just outstanding.

So I was first pretty close to Alpert on guitar (I am fascinated by the way she plays her chords so slowly that you can hear individual notes).  Kasra Kurt on guitar does a similar thing although his part always seems to be a little different.

What was notable was that they played some songs differently than on record.  “Shadow Expert” was considerably slower than the recorded version.  Which made it a very different song.

But just because Eve and Kasra are front and center (well, technically they are left and right), without the rhythm section, the whole band falls apart.  I couldn’t always see Hugo Stanley on the drums, but his rhythms were unavoidable.  Whether it’s strange time signatures or really fast rolls and trills during a simple beat, he held things together but threw in interesting accents too (that wood block again).

And then actually front and center is bassist Gerasimos Livitsanos.  Without his steadiness, the whole thing would dissolve into chaos.  I feel like he must spend the whole show counting, making sure that all of the various parts stay whether they are supposed to.  And yet for all of his steadiness, during a jamming “Ankle” at the end of the show, he was really throwing some chaos into the mix, playing some crazy bass fills–mostly just going crazy at the high notes as is he was trying to mimic the drum fills that Stanley was playing on drums–but never losing the beat.

After I was pushed back it was hard to really see what was going on which meant just a lot of grooving to the music (and trying to avoid getting slammed by the dancer).

When I saw them last time, I wrote a pretty gushing review (with lots more videos) that is true for this show as well, so I’m just going to quote myself since I was totally new to the band then:

It’s hard to even know where to start.  The first song (no idea what the songs were called) featured Kurt on vocals.  And what struck me immediately was how they were playing guitar chords and yet you could hear each string–as if they were picked, but not exactly.  It’s an unusual sound despite how simple it is, and it lends  the song a lurching quality that is strangely infectious.

Most of their chords, in fact, were very high on the neck of their guitars, which lends to very sharp sounds.

Alpert sang nearly half of the songs.  She played some chords on nearly the highest frets of the guitar which every third or four the time would include the low string introducing an unexpected low/high note.  All the while that Kurt was playing something else entirely.  Kurt;s guitar was totally beat up and he played a lot of angular sharp chords.

It was amazing watching them.  Some of their sections involve repeating chords some fifteen or sixteen times and yet despite the repetition, they were all in sync when it was time to shift to the next part.  It was great to see a band playing music that was this complex and yet they were so tight doing it.

It was exciting watching the drummer play some complex rhythms which sometimes involves a woodblock.  And then the bassist would occasionally throw in a complex riff that just added another texture to an already complex sound.

I couldn’t really see Stanley’s drums at Boot & Saddle (he was pretty far back), but this time I was able to see this fascinating item on his hi-hat:

Obviously the band is very tight.  It’s unclear if some of the things they do are improvised or jammed or if it’s all very calculated and precise–I can’t tell if there’s cues on stage to extend certain things, although it did seem like there was one part that they jammed around for a little while before returning to the main melody–and getting a great response from the crowd.  They definitely seemed looser this time, especially during Ankle–that bass and drum work was just amazing during that section–for a song that is as tight as that the rhythm section was very loose indeed.

Here’s a few extra pictures of Alpert since I was right in front of her.

I’ve marveled at how interesting it is that they were able to find four people interested in playing such unusual and unconventional music and how lucky we (or at least I) am that they did.  I can’t wait to hear more from them

Although, I’ve about had my fill of PhilaMOCA–it’s a little too hot and crowded when sold out.  I loved it the first night and was kind of done with it the second time.  Maybe I should have stayed in the balcony.

And here’s one more shot of Kurt–the last thing I got before being pushed aside.

I should know the set list a little better, (I saw Livitsanos tearing a piece of paper in quartets to give everyone the list).  But the best I could come up with was recognizing these songs:

• Walkie Talkie
• Shadow Expert
• Two Toes
• Trying
• Ankle