ALBUM REVIEW: Sleepless – Palm Reader

There aren’t many bands who’ve proven themselves as worthy of the hype surrounding them as PALM READER. This year marks the Nottingham-based five-piece’s tenth as a band. Over the past decade, they’ve released three critically acclaimed albums, each a significant musical evolution from its predecessor. For many, it was 2018’s Braille which firmly cemented them as one of the most exciting prospects of the UK underground. Now, they return with their fourth offering, Sleepless, a record which reveals the band have no intention of taking their foot off the pedal just yet.

Perhaps the most striking shift from Braille to Sleepless is the extensive use of keys and synths to add textures to the record. While PALM READER have made use of these on previous records, they’ve really turned things up a notch this time. On this subject, guitarist Andy Gillan says: “Bands that use keyboards always sound bigger. We’re constantly trying to evolve as musicians, so rather than having a guitar riff and beefing it up by adding a second guitar part, this time around we’ve created sounds that sit behind those riffs and tear at your heartstrings.” This is something which is immediately clear from the record’s opening track, and lead single, Hold/Release. Here, synths and keys provide the backbone for the song’s driving verses, adding atmospheric textures elsewhere as well. It’s a trick the band employs a lot on Sleepless, making for an expansive and often beautiful record.

Of course, PALM READER have long shown a mastery of creating music that’s beautiful and emotional as well as heavy. Sleepless is no exception. In fact, it’s probably the best they’ve ever done it. On songs like Ending Cycle and False Threat, synths, keys and pianos add warmth and melody for often moving results. Elsewhere, sixth track Islay provides a delicate instrumental interlude, with melancholy clean guitars. Perhaps the most beautiful of all though is the album’s ninth track, A Love That Tethers. This song features some stunning ethereal clean vocals, and mournful guitar parts from Gillan and Sam Rondeau-Smith.

The beauty on Sleepless doesn’t come at the expense of savagery however. For proof one need look no further than the album’s second track Stay Down. It’s a vicious, hard-hitting piece with technical riffs and visceral vocals from frontman Josh Mckeown. It’s also not the only time the band, and specifically the guitars, bring to mind the crushing stylings of DEFTONES‘ Stephen Carpenter. Other prime examples of this include fifth track A Bird And Its Feathers, and album closer Both Ends Of The Rope.

One way PALM READER really hammer home their heavy credentials is through their impressive command of dynamics. One could pick from a fair few tracks on Sleepless to give an example of this, but one particularly strong case is the already mentioned A Bird And Its Feathers. Described as “a dark love song”, the track starts out with Mckeown‘s low vocals over quiet synths and guitars. Things get gradually heavier, building to a manic, chaotic and punishing conclusion that even sees the band add brass to the song’s many textures.

Another stand-out feature of Sleepless is its weighty lyrical content. On this record, Mckeown drew on experiences outside of his own for “a more rounded set of themes.” It’s another tactic which pays off for the band, with the lyrics adding a different kind of heaviness. Highlights include Mckeown‘s exploration of toxic masculinity and male suicide on Hold/Release, with it’s devastating chorus lines of “Euphoria will never make a home in me. When did I last feel free?”, and his story of a mother losing her child on Willow. Other lyrics on the record may be a little more abstract, but they still feel deeply meaningful nonetheless. A prime example of this is found in the chorus of eighth track Brink: “They beat the lies into you. Blur the lines of truth. You found the brink. You’re close to it.”

While it’s difficult to pick specific highlights from a record this good, it would be wrong not to mention the album’s staggering closing track, Both Ends Of The Rope. The song hits home many of the things PALM READER do so well throughout Sleepless. It’s both savage and beautiful, and once again features loads of synths and textures which make it feel gigantic. As the song, and with it the album, draws to a close, it’s impossible to feel anything other than impressed by a group who somehow raise the bar with every record they release. Sleepless is yet another triumph from one of the very best bands in heavy music today. If you haven’t been convinced by PALM READER just yet, now is the time to change that.

Rating: 9/10

Sleepless is set for release on November 27th via Church Road Records.

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