There’s a certain honor that comes from being a hand-selected show opener – while clearly demonstrating the headliner’s sense of taste, it also should serve to illustrate that the openers are serious business. Enter Palm. Opening for Buke & Gase‘s most recent show at BSP Kingston with Celestial Shore, the foursome were exactly the sort of band you’d expect the genre-dodging innovative duo to champion while still remaining very much a complete and absolute surprise.
Palm, for lack of a more apt description of what they do, play the sort of mathematical experimental rock that downright enchants. Their live set is the musical equivalent of watching a high wire act; never quite sure what to expect or when/if the foursome’s synchronized complexity will lead them to stagger and fall at any moment. That’s not to say you’re waiting for the quartet to fail – rather watching them weave intricate patterns in real time was downright mesmerizing and yet, the band never quite loses sight that there’s an audience to cater to. “No Tribute” from their three song Into the Bulk EP released late last year is perhaps the best example of what you can/should expect from Palm. There’s an accessibility deeply ingrained in it despite the band’s various spinning plates form of music making. It’s not always at the forefront but it does keep the band’s obvious musicianship from developing into an exclusionary geek out. Palm might not make music for everyone but at the very least they do provide a necessary window into their complexly layered tumult.
