ROCK ISLAND 01/08/2013 and more by solid songwriting

and more by solid songwriting and a band simply having a great time playing together

but he fits better here than he did on What Happens Next

though only the most attentive listening reveals an artist with more dimensions -- or more vocal ability -- than the one who sang "Birthday Sex" and "Down on Me

Henry Duncan

while "Daddy Should Have Stayed In High School

ROCK ISLAND 01/08/2013 and more by solid songwritingOn Rock Island, their second LP, Palm produces evidence of a distinct musical language, developed over time, in isolation, and out of necessity. On the island, melodies are struck on what might be shells or spines. Rhythms are scratched out, swept over, scratched again. Individual instruments, and sometimes entire sections, skip and stutter. There is the sense of a music box with wonky tension or a warped transmission in which all the noise is taken