Painted Palms - Forever

It would seem that Painted Palms are so confident in Forever that they want you to hear it twice in one spin. At least, the level of echo on each individual sound on Forever seems to suggest so, creating a sort of double-image that runs parallel to the album itself throughout a rather busy production. Yet Painted Palms’ firm grasp on hooky songwriting and Pet Sounds-levels of vicarious whimsy makes for a rather interesting edifice of introspection for a debut LP, despite its cluttered arrangement.

Though Painted Palms is comprised of two cousins, they function as a long-distance pairing, emailing files back and forth to one another and expanding on musical ideas (the two are currently both San Francisco-based, though Christopher Prudhomme only recently moved there from Louisiana). That working relationship may directly contribute to the struggled dynamic in Forever‘s production. Given that info, one can easily conjure up imagery of the two sending song files back and forth, adding a piece to the mixture each time until pieces are so riddled with echo-laden hooks that they start to cancel one another out, creating Forever’s inherent cluttered and busy nature.

Painted Palms take on ‘60s pop/rock style comes laced with waves of futuristic tone, including a clear ‘70s affiliation with its distorted psychedelia, ever present in the obtrusive background and clamor of Forever’s busier tracks, and with their songwriting style’s clear necessity of incorporating modern day electronica, piecing together electronic jams beat by beat in lieu of traditional, full-band practice sessions one might associate with the musical period they’ve sought to emulate and expand upon.

Prudhomme’s voice and Painted Palms’ lyricism plays out with a vibe like that of Pet Sounds as sung by James Mercer (The Shins/Broken Bells), with whom Prudhomme shares some clear affinities in tone and inflection. The lyrical themes on Forever take place very much within Prudhomme’s inner voice, challenging one’s own decisions and emotions. Tracks like “Forever” and “Here It Comes” play out as Prudhomme’s logic debating against his own body’s desire to follow its emotional, albeit illogical, impulses.

At times, the heavy production does play to full effect, particularly on title-track “Forever” and leading single “Spinning Signs,” both of which utilize the various sound distortions and shifting pangs to create a disorienting rhythmic tension that is largely dispersed by the catchiness of the vocal line. But where it plays less symbiotically is in Forever’s more stripped-down tracks, such as “Sleepwalking,” in which the more solemnly stirring mood is often brushed aside by conflicting psychedelic pangs. Such is Painted Palms’ vice—a bit of “less is more” might serve them well in the long run, but it would require leaving a few of their conflicting, toe-tapping hooks on the shelf.