Battered back by the throes of COVID during the recording of their previous album, Palace is back with insights galore. Ultrasound progresses the feeling of being locked away and untouched by nature. Everything from previous record Shoals, from its glossy cover spanning mountainous regions and underwater creatures to the tensions and terrors of being alive in an ever-changing world, builds up towards Ultrasound. Evocative warmth is nowhere to be found in the black-and-white coolness of Palace’s latest record. Choppy waters and jagged rocks mark a distant and cold experience, and it is what many felt during a time of being locked away indoors. Art now references a pandemic which spawned nearly half a decade ago yet its influence and its impact lives on. For Palace, it is a breeding ground of fear developed by droning clarity.
Influential times in your 20s are never forgotten as Son warns. Their impact and heartbreak are clear. Hear it through on the strings and striking decadence taking place on Ultrasound’s second track. All those regrets and fears will flood back. No doubt about it. Palace is in no rush to end those suffering moments and instead offers this as an opportunity to cleanse the mind. Start anew. Drifting experiences on Rabid Dog could not be further from the barking, feral expectations. Spots of interest are what make up Ultrasound. Where the likes of Make You Proud and Inside My Chest slip on by there is a real and resounding quality to Love is a Precious Thing. It all comes down to whatever sounds you prefer. The tonal differences are instrumentally rewarding and vocally similar.
But Ultrasound is not the impenetrable set of observations it sets out to be and is all too easy to find and unravel. Dream pop tones offer little in the way of striking demonstrations of post-pandemic clarity and instead feel floaty and distant from the real experiences, the harsh moments are not mused on long. Whining and groaning instrumental work on All We’ve Ever Wanted keeps it pure. An honest look at desire and puncturing the fourth wall but with the intent of living your best life firmly in hand it feels disorienting and underwhelming to address it and then step away from it. No amount of instrumental brutality can change the spots of indifferent notice. Cocoon and Say the Words feel vacant and broad, as much of Ultrasound leaves too much room for self-inserts.
Palace has an album here which hopes to draw on your fears. To suck you in and plant you in a tactful and interesting grip of terror. It works in parts and ultimately, inevitably, there is salvation on the other side. Give it a few more spins and there it is, this realisation of a past haunting you and locking you into place. Failure to move on is a stagnant sign, of course, but unlocking the reasons why we linger is the first step. It is a step Ultrasound is more than capable of making but it requires a bit of heavy lifting from listeners and their heavier hearts. Where it lacks the overwhelming urge and power needed to pull the heartstrings in the right pitch and tone there is enough within the latest Palace piece to move, to flourish and to engage those buried and hardened memories.
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