Reve Bleu
YHS, 2019
9/10
A Canadian-Brazil duo who bring us some of the best aspects of alt-rock from the past 4 decades, Palm Haze possess the capacity for heavy yet gentle landscapes, as well as busy yet minimal instrumentation, as they never follow any predictable patterns on this extremely well done album.
“Winds” starts the listen with an immediately gripping dream like haze of calm melodica, before fuller sounds of fuzzy alt-rock enter the equation, and “Drop In” follows with a charged setting of propulsive ‘90s nods with gentle vocals and hypnotic guitar work.
A listen where each tune is your favorite, “Second Round” starts soft and agile before sonically loud walls of power and melody invade the post-punkish affair, while the title track offers a percussive heavy, languid venture into gentle textures. The record ends strong with the 7+ minutes of “Almost Soon”, where a shoegaze spirit runs through the mesmerizing, buzzing setting that’s also part trip-hop and psyche-rock.
If there’s a better band out there playing this noisey yet beautiful style of dream-punk, I certainly haven’t heard them. Put Palm Haze on your short list of bands to seek out now; you’ll thank me later.
Travels well with: Alvvays- Alvvays; My Bloody Valentine- Loveless