In a new series, One Stop Record Shop takes a look back at the EPs that slipped through the net. Today, Joel Day relives the wonder of Palm Honey’s debut EP, Tucked into the Electronic Wave, in all of its psychedelic glory.
Re-igniting the long-forgotten era of British psychedelic rock, Reading four–piece, Palm Honey, introduces their experimental debut EP, Tucked into the Electronic Wave.
It’s an offering full of punchy synthetic twangs supporting prominent pop-rock guitar lines – a sound that recapitulates the dreamy ripples that psych-pop-rock prided itself on in the latter half of the 20th century.
Tucked into the Electronic Wave distances itself from the band’s traditionally up-beat style seen on previous offerings. Thematically, their music has gained, as frontman Joseph Mumford notes, “a dark undercurrent”. Slowing down in both beat and tone, the change becomes strikingly evident during the EP’s opening track “Palace”.
With fervent calls of, “everything is so out of focus”, the vocals expose the hidden anxieties interwoven in Palm Honey’s latest offering. Synthetic sounds bring uncertainty onto the horizon, whilst high-octave plucky guitar notes spring to life a looming darkness of one’s consciousness – “Abstract are the patterns in my mind” – a recurring theme throughout the EP.
An elegant interconnection between “Palace” and “Stick the knife in” draws parallels with Pink Floyd’s, Dark Side of The Moon. Slow, soft guitar lines, eventually morph into a hard-hitting, aggressive riff. “Stick the knife in” ends in confidence, “no-one is worth my time”. There is a pinch of victory within the vocals, but also the introduction of ignorance, signifying the end of the anxiety Palm Honey has been harmoniously trying to escape.
“Going Normal”, as the title suggests, sees Palm Honey re-gain their psychedelic roots with a dreamy rhythmic beat. Light percussion overlays plucking guitars, bringing forth a serene state of being. Cries of: “Feel alright / alright / okay”, embolden the bands once paranoid stricken trance. With “Going Normal”, Palm Honey have achieved liberation from the depths of their own consciousness.
Something that’s been lost from the golden era of psych rock is the length with which the songs would play out. You’d be hard pressed to find a 21st century song that was a third of the length of Jimi Hendrix’s’ “Voodoo Chile”, or The Rolling Stones’ “Going Home”. But, with the EP’s last track, “I Can try”, Palm honey have provided us with four minutes fifty-one of raw synthetics and heady guitar riffs.
“Effectively infusing an old theme with a new, deeper synthetic, Pale Honey have crafted an innovative dose of self-expression.”
With the arduous battle against one’s self, “I Can Try” highlights just how easy it is to slip back into the paranoia you thought you’d escaped –“Feels like I have been through this before”. Jumpy vocals highlight the shift between reason and emotion. With an upbeat tonal mixture whirring away, a final journey is made out of the depths of despair and bleakness. You’d have thought Palm Honey had won. But you’d be wrong.“I Can Try” climaxes with complex sounds and heavy percussion that prove the battle is far from over.
Effectively infusing an old theme with a new, deeper synthetic, Palm Honey have crafted an innovative dose of self-expression. If the band carries on to produce music like the contents of Tucked into the Electronic Wave, they could be onto something much bigger than they realise.
For fans of: The Horrors, My bloody Valentine, The Telescopes
