“It hurts to love and leave, I don’t love you lеss.“
Ten years after his first LP, Flume emerges again from the studio. Palaces oozes his signature style – consistently bold production choices and wild synthesizers drenching cutting-edge pop songs and glitchy interludes. The album contains a smorgasbord of features, giving the microphone to some lesser-known pop acts (Oklou, MAY-A, Kucka, Quiet Bison, Laurel, Virgen Maria, and Emma Louise) and a few better-known ones (Damon Albarn and Caroline Polachek). The record benefits from a wide but consistent sonic palette, but the only thing missing is rapping – instead, most of the guest appearances end up on EDM ballads, which this record has perhaps too many of.
“Say Nothing” and “Escape” are the strongest examples of Flume‘s abstract production choices on anthemic club songs, much like his past turbo-hit “Never Be Like You”. “Escape” also demonstrates that Flume‘s style is not simply split between pop tracks and quirky experiments – the chorus is a catchy, choppy instrumental break, with glitching laser gun synths that entwine with sampled vocals. “Hollow” and “Sirens” are soulful, stuttering singles that are well worth checking out, particularly the latter, where Caroline Polachek’s stunning vocals are constantly juxtaposed against abrasive rhythms and tremolo-filtered leads. It’s hit and miss though – “Highest Building” is not as catchy or compelling as it needs to be as the record’s opener. “I Can’t Tell”’s promising dynamics are let down by its plodding pace and unsatisfying wonky-trap choruses, although Laurel‘s brilliant vocal performance is to be celebrated. “Only Fans” induces tonal whiplash with its subject, but the Flume-isms in the production are entirely fitting for a tongue-in-cheek track.
The tracks without specific features are subtler pieces that give the record an interesting structure. The strongest of these is “Get U”, which transitions mid track from a skulking dark rhythmic introduction into a muffled but bright vocal outro that’s utterly triumphant. “DHLC” is a short number that embraces arpeggiated cacophony and satisfying reprises. “Jasper’s Song” is the most straightforward sounding interlude where a piano sample gets gradually twisted, but compared to the quirkiness arising across the rest of the record, it feels like a pulled punch. “Love Light” is a more classic instrumental with sampled vocals that function as a sort of lead synth, but it lurches up and down keys in its verse in an unsettling way. “Go” might already be relegated to obscurity, hidden at the end of the record, despite its ardently cheerful mood and danceable moments.
Seamless transitions elevated Flume‘s celebrated Hi This Is Flume mixtape, but are missing on this LP, and together with the occasionally sparse arrangements, the track-to-track momentum is lost. The pace of many of the singles is also somewhat sluggish – this might have been remedied by additional hip hop influence on the record and some rap performances. Still, Palaces is a strong record containing immense detail and many strong tracks.
7/10