Mint Chip

For their sophomore effort / Drag City debut, the enigmatic duo expand into eight-armed wonder; all the better to reach ever-deeper into their bag of tricks. Slinky and sliding elegantly, the kids forge tunes with a harmony of ambiguity and nostalgia, effortless yet precise, and rounded with thick bottom - a dancing clash of cognition and dissonance.

Since 2015, Kamikaze Palm Tree have been a relative mystery. Now, in times no less mysterious, Drag City welcomes them to our tropical island destination, celebrating the energy of their second album, Mint Chip, where Kamikaze Palm Tree play their offbeat strain of 21st Century rock.

Making Mint Chip, Dylan Hadley and Cole Berliner reach deeper into their bag of tricks than ever before, dialoguing with an absurd shared intent they haven’t yet paused to question. The off-centre pieces gathered together for ‘Good Boy’ have given way to pulsing aquatic compositions on Mint Chip. Cole’s guitar tones, wire thin, bell-like, bluesily downtuned, slinky and sliding elegantly, arc purposeful around their peripherals. Dylan’s kit work, effortless yet precise, grounded with heavy bottom, drives and interacts organically with all the emerging structure, nailing down finely detailed frames and canvases to backdrop her singing and the unremitting landing of melodies and songs. With the addition of Josh Puklavetz, things that didn’t make sense before - like bass - are now on the beach, fully lotioned, essence to essence. Violin and clarinet (Laena Myers Ionita and Brad Caulkins, respectively) round out the tonal spectrum. All strung together in the foothills of Altadena’s Wiggle World Studios with Hartling back in the engineer’s seat and Tim Presley producing the proceedings.

The songs: their imagined pictures - anything from faintly to innately ridiculous - are somehow intimate yet devoid of context (“none of the songs are about anything”). Ambiguity and nostalgia, hand in hand - for you, cognitive and dissonanced, humming along.