(Indie Rock, Garage) Burnt Palms - The Girl You Knew - 2014, MP3, 320 kbps

Underneath the fizzy garage pop of Burnt Palms is a dark side. The Seaside, California trio follows up their self-titled debut with another collection of candy-coated jams in the US through We Were Never Boring Collective and in the UK on Very Gun Records. Sure to draw comparisons to Dum Dum Girls with breezy harmonies and moody introspection, the trio is also undeniably coming into their own on The Girl You Knew.
As lead vocalist Christina Riley sings on the opening title track, “The girl I was she is gone.” Whoever this girl is becoming is someone we can’t forget either. This release feels a cathartic journey for the so-scalled “girl we used to know”, each track acting as a means of rediscovery in what proves to be a deeply intimate listen.
Moods are constantly shifting, beginning with blue skies and and possibilities as endless as the Pacific Ocean that come with falling in love. “Baby don’t go, don’t leave my side,” Riley croons on “Don’t Go”, her bandmates joining the chorus, adding an earnest hopefulness that this lover won’t leave come sunrise. Unfortunately moments later “Open My Eyes” reveals that romance is long gone. “I was yours,” Riley repeats, her vocals breaking as a backing of fuzzy guitar and frenzied drums becomes more prominent. It’s moments like this where you have to give the record more than a casual listen because under all that fuzz and reverb expected of a surf-pop group is Burnt Palms in their most intimate, bravely baring it all.
Together their music makes even the darkest of times seems beautiful, turing personal struggles with desperation and isolation into music unlike anything their counterparts are creating.