Painted Palms
Forever
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Psych-pop
Painted Palms is too high. But sometimes that can be okay, because the band is having fun with it. In their debut album, Forever, the duo of Reese Donohue and Chris Prudhomme float away in the breezy fields of psychedelic pop, creating their own atmosphere with synthesized textures of jubilance and stoned wonder.
The group doesn’t waste any time building momentum, and let their narcotized journey go forth with the fitting opener “Too High.” An infectious synth melody triggers the bouncing beat while singer Prudhomme enjoys the magic of being… too high as he “doesn’t have a thing to say to you because [he] can just see right through.”
Painted Palms lets its pop explosions continue with the consistently upbeat “Here It Comes,” and “Hypnotic,” all alluding to joyous symptoms of an unknown drug until the pace slows with the regretful “Soft Hammer.”
With John Lennon-like harmonies glossing the background in the first half of the album, Forever invokes a modern-day Sgt. Pepper’s duplication — experimenting with psychedelia while staying moderately grounded in a pop foundation.
But this isn’t the ‘60s, and there are new instruments for tripped-out musicians to play with. Painted Palms’ current experimentation is fueled by a versatile synthesizer for hooks and their blazed imagination, heard in the title track and “Not Really There.” However, Forever is not the same classic as the late Beatles album.
The energy of Forever ebbs and flows in the second half, sliding into another high point with “Spinning Signs.” But by the end of the album, the band’s drug has become stale.
Forever is an album for listeners craving a tamer MGMT or a less wacky Of Montreal to enjoy and even add to their dance playlist. But it is not an album that will change synth-pop. Nevertheless, it does a fine job of supporting the genre’s fundamentals.
— Charlie Shelton
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