Thrice
Palms

Thrice - Palms

This first impression was originally posted as a live blog for supporters in our forums on July 19th, 2018. First impressions are meant to be quick, fun, initial impressions on an album or release as I listen to it for the first time. It’s a running commentary written while listening to an album — not a review. More like a diary of thoughts. This post has been lightly edited for structure and flow.

This new album from Thrice is a tricky one to pin down. I’ve spent the last week trying to figure out the best way to put into words what I think about it and, specifically, what it sounds like. I think going broadly I would describe the album has having a nice groove to it. A groove that reminds me most of Beggars, and one that doesn’t wholly eschew the rock sound they had on their last album, but instead leans into many aspects of that sound in new ways.

It’s expansive in tone and feel. This leads to an album that, when it works, contains songs that are up with the best of the band’s catalog. It also gives us a few places where I think the songs have the pieces, and general skeleton, of a grand idea; however, they don’t end up feeling quite right to me.

Where the album absolutely works is in its opener. “Only Us” is Thrice doing what they do best. It’s a song that takes a sound that we associate with the band, colossal, and works in new elements to push the band’s sonic envelope in new directions. It starts with a pulsating synth reminiscent of Stranger Things and grows and builds into a towering epic of a track. A level that, unfortunately, the rest of the album ends up playing catch-up to for most of its duration. That’s not to say the rest of the songs are bad, but I’d be lying if I said the opener didn’t raise my expectations for where I thought this album was going to go. That synth mixed with a crunchy guitar and full bass, all accompanied by Dustin’s use of melody, really is everything I could ask for in a Thrice song in 2018. It feels new, modern, and yet distinctly Thrice in a way that only Thrice has been able to distinctly define.

“The Grey,” the first song released from the album, is one of the more straight forward rock songs on the album. I’m drawn, particularly, to the bass lines and unique guitar usage in the song. It’s good, but it also feels restrained to me. There’s something about the recording that feels pulled back right when I’m expecting it to exhale.

“The Dark” is a slow build of a song that culminates in using a chorus of fan-recordings to chant the outro. The ominous fuzz that permeates through the chorus is haunting, and the lyrics seem to tell a journey toward self-redemption and finding the courage to not sit back and take abuse any longer. I kept expecting the build-up to have a release with a throating scream from Dustin, but instead it finds itself moving into the calming choral chant over a soft melody.

When I said earlier that this album has a groove to it, it’s because of songs like “Just Breathe.” It starts with a nice little riff that bends with a rubbery cadence. The verses bounce you into a chorus that spark memories of the band’s Air EP. A feathery batch of lyrics reminding you to just breathe and stay in the moment.

Stay deep, in the moment,
just breathe,
feel the flow of all things,
in the moment, sway.
Why don’t you stay …

I’d be hard pressed to think of a Thrice song in recent memory that I’ve loved more than this one. It’s the unique combinations of each member’s talents that gives us a song like this, and that’s why it feels so uniquely Thrice to me. I can’t think of any other bands that are capable of pulling something like this off.

The middle of the album goes back-to-back with slow, ballad-like, songs. Of the two, I prefer “Everything Belongs.” It fits perfectly after “Just Breathe,” with a building piano and soft crooning from Dustin, I find the song sedative like a lullaby. I find the lyrics inspiring and hopeful.

I’m finally seeing I’ve been seeing this all wrong.
I’m finally seeing now that everything belongs.
Everything belongs.
Everything belongs.

The song finishes in a flash that I can only describe as reminiscent of Explosions in the Sky. Cinematic and grandiose.

I’m not all that interested in “My Soul” as a song. It feels oddly placed here in the sequence and, as another slow ballad, feels superfluous. There’s some interesting ideas musically within it, and I think it continues that “groove” I described earlier within album as a whole, but it doesn’t quite work for me.

“A Branch in the River” and “Hold Up a Light” both give me almost a grungy-lo-fi-punk feel. They’re more traditional rock songs with more traditional Thrice-elements. With crashing guitars, shouty vocals, and sweeping choruses, these feel like the band reminding us that they’re still capable of writing as good of rock songs as anyone. The former sounding like it should be played in a small dive-bar with fans screaming along while pressed up against a disgusting cement wall. The later sounding Foo Fighter-esque and reaching arena-level eminence.

Hold up a light
Hold up a light
Hold up a light until the morning comes

It’s so perfectly chant-able that I can already see it becoming a crowd-favorite. It’s also probably the heaviest the band gets on this album.

The groove continues with “Blood on Blood,” another song that gives me Beggars vibes in the way it flows and dances. The bass line is intoxicating and this ends up being one of the more experimental songs on the album as it shapeshifts between sounds and tempos. It’s the kind of song that made me fall in love with the band in the first place. Not because it specifically sounds like anything they’ve done before, but because it feels new, even risky in places.

The album ends with “Beyond the Pines,” and I think it’s a really good display of where Dustin is as a songwriter now. It’s been joyous to watch the different eras and evolution of him as a lyricist, and this feels like the embodiment of this current moment.

And I will meet you there,
beyond the pines,
templed and twilight of dawn
the light in easy air
tracing the lines on our palms.

A poetry and examination of storytelling that feels universal and personal at the same time. It’s masterfully done.

At the end, I wouldn’t call this album a continuation of To Be Everywhere Is to Be Nowhere, but I would say that it feels like it builds off of that album while re-injecting some of the style found in Beggars. It does this while moving the band forward in new ways and it finds them exploring a softer palette while still feeling distinctly Thrice. I think that’s what I like best about the band, as they explore and play with new sounds and elements in their music, it always finds a way to feel like a Thrice album. Each member of the band bringing a key ingredient to the songs and then mixing together to create something that feels singularly theirs. What the band decides to make Thrice this year, is what Thrice is. Never trapped into one sound or style, they’re capable of flexing their creativity and exploring that which inspires them.

Update: After a few more weeks with this album I think almost all of my thoughts above have become even more solidified. The album continues to grow on me, and I find myself reaching for it every few days for a spin. However, it hasn’t really had a moment for me where it’s become a specific kind of album for me. Usually an album will end up finding a spot in the rotation as a “workout album,” or a “late night album,” or some variation thereof. However, this album bends so much that it’s not great in any one spot, and I think that’s led me to realize it’s far more diverse than I originally was giving it credit for. It’s not a perfect “workout album” because there’s all these soft moments that make you want to stop and be introspective. It’s not a night album, or a driving album, or a party album. But what it is, and what’s really become known to me over the past few weeks, is that this is very much a Thrice album. I’m still not able to place it in proper context with the rest of the band’s discography yet, but I think that will come in time. If anyone has any other specific questions about the album, feel free to hit me up in the supporter thread.