Palm Beach make down-tempo, synth-based, disco-kissed electronica, and we can’t get enough of it! After joining the synthwave scene in March this year, on these two tracks the producer lives up to his name in every sense.
The Manchester based musician has behind the scenes created a refreshingly dreamy and electronic sound, similar to La Roux but with much less pop. His productions are sheer synth heaven with that world class talent of making you forget it all came from a computer, it sounds so natural.
‘Reach’ released in April this year is so blissfully calming and chilled it practically stops time, whilst ‘Monatomic’ is totally feel-good and builds on a much fuller sound palette,
Developments are the key to ‘Reach’, keeping the listener intrigued just long enough for the drop of another smooth bass line or brassy synth. Arppegiation has been used to the upmost advantage in ‘Reach’, blending the synths and bass with the rest of the track so perfectly. The vocals in the middle of the track are a pleasant surprise.
The repetition of the lyrics is brilliantly bold and barely noticeable alongside the developments of the instruments in the track. One builds after the other, with the consistency of momentum keeping any listener in a dreamy trance. Towards the end we hear brassier synths with multiple tracks layered up for that full all-encompassing wall of sound; the peak of the momentum before the beat strips back down gradually, returning the listener to normality just as softly as we were taken away at the beginning of the track.
Second track ‘Monatomic’ is another trance-like piece, and starts with a much fuller sound rather than the masterful build-up executed by the producer on ‘Reach’. Keeping the same chord structure as ‘Reach’, the synths and leads in this track are nothing if not divine ear candy. The upbeat melodic synths throughout emit a continuous happy buzz whilst the significantly heavily edited vocals give the track that edgy vocoder appeal. With soft pads keeping the serenity of the piece the heavy drum crashes and fills add a little more drama, adding intensity to areas of the track that otherwise might have been too repetitive.
In Palm Beach style once again, one after the other, multiple sounds are gradually added to ‘Monatomic’. From a smooth bass-line and sweet sounding chimes straight into the vocals we hear near the middle of the track. By the end of the character of the bass and synths contrast so well it’s difficult not to become addicted to Palm Beach’s style, before he again expertly drops out the instruments for a final lull.
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