Foto-Credit © Ficition
Die englische Indie-Rock-Band Palace veröffentlicht bald ihr drittes Studioalbum Shoals. Wir sprachen mit Leo, Matt und Rupert über Angst als Leitthema, was sie dem Lockdown Positives abgewinnen konnten und was sie an der Natur inspiriert.
Congratulations on your upcoming album Shoals which is a „love letter to anxiety“. Tell me more about that.
Leo: It sort of came out of the experience of the first lockdown, there were no distractions and you were just with yourself. The album is about confronting yourself with fears and looking into the mirror. Making peace with your imperfections. It’s a love letter about our relationship with fears and anxiety.
Do you have a better relationship with yourself now?
Leo: Yeah definitely, it is a process. Learning more about yourself never ends. But on a personal level I have more sense of myself now.
Did the feeling of isolation during the pandemic also have an impact on your lyrics?
Leo: It impacted the lyrics in the sense of not being able to work together and being on my own. Lots of things came to the surface. Without the lockdown we would have had a completely different album. It shaped the whole sound of it, right guys?
Matt: It’s a funny contrast that many lyrics came out of this feeling of isolation but there was also a positive note that we had more time in the lockdown to work at the songs individually and then work together at the studio. We had more time and freedom for the record than for any other album.
Do you want to continue working like this in the future?
Leo: Yeah we learned from that experience. We have always had a fixed process of how we work and now the situation has changed that. But we still love jamming and playing together.
You cite the sea as a leitmotif for your album. How did you use it for your lyrics and music?
Leo: The sea has always played a big part in the music of Palace because it sounds like the sea. It could be loud and aggressive but also gentle and tender. We like playing with that. With this album, certain songs had the feeling of being underwater. The lyrics are about the depths of our minds and thoughts. So we made that connection between the depths of the sea and those of our own minds.
Are you all inspired by nature in general for your music?
Leo: Yeah definitely, I was always drawn to writing about nature in all sorts of forms. We are all from the countryside. Being surrounded by nature is something we feel very comfortable with.
Matt. Yeah, the theme fits very well with the music.
Do you watch a lot of nature documentaries?
Matt: Yeah, I do. The Green Planet on BBC Earth is great for example.
I like your artwork for the current album which is inspired by nature like your previous record. Do you work with the same artist for your cover?
Matt: Yeah, he’s actually my brother. He has done everything since the start. The fans connect to his artwork very much and there is equal excitement for it as for the album.
Green and blue are kind of your band colors, right?
Matt: I have always associated green and blue in our music. It fits to the sea.
Leo: And they are also very comforting colors. There is no threat, they are very calming and peaceful, especially blue.
What lyric on the album describes it as essential?
Leo: In a simple sense: Never said it was easy. This is what we learned with the album and the whole process of recording.
