Century Palm

***"It’s perhaps cliche to speak of a new band bursting upon the scene, but in the case of Toronto’s CENTURY PALM, such a claim is entirely valid. This collaborative project between five veterans of Canada’s underground rock scene has amassed no small degree of interest from the informed and attentive. Century Palm is a new group with ambitions far beyond their rawer formative endeavors, and the extent of that shared vision is becoming clear. Not content to simply combine influences, Century Palm slither effortlessly across genre boundaries, drawing upon myriad times and places: Simple Minds, The Units, Neu!, Wire, Eno’s pop records, and contemporary sounds from the Australian garage rock sub-terrain. Century Palm frequently employ minimal but propulsive rhythms in service of intoxicating melodies. A song like ‘Valley Cyan’ shiver, pulsate and glisten, losing none of the essential energy of previous projects while adding new worlds of texture and feeling. There’s a fascinating tension, a palpable struggle between their inner selves and their music that demands to be heard. Now all you need to do is listen."—Simon Harvey, Ugly Pop