Pallers: The Sea Of Memories - Album Review

Pallers
The Sea Of Memories
Rating: Grrrr

Swedish synth-pop duo Pallers, made up of Johan Angergård (veteran of indie pop acts Club 8, the Legends, and Acid House Kings) and Henrik Mårtensson, make music tailor made for long winters; icy, haunting keyboards and forlorn, mooning lyrics, looking to the past for answers that never come. Their debut cd The Sea of Memories, while lacking in originality (the comparisons to Junior Boys will immediately come to mind), makes up for it in mood and presence. While bands like Junior Boys rely on exact precision and production technique, Pallers allows for hints of warmth and humanity to flood their songs. Angergård's voice is thin and wan, but it connects with the listener. You feel his every emotion and the weight of the past on him in the present. The songs that make up this album vary between more beat driven tracks and almost instrumental flights, that recall the urban malaise of Burial.

Some of the best entry points to this album are the pulsating "Humdrum," which bridges the gap between New Order and shoegaze. Angergård's voice is particularly fragile here, barely audible in the mix, lamenting that his lover is only in his head and not his bed.



"Come Rain, Come Sunshine" haunts with memories that provide nothing but ache and sorrow, leading the narrator to sigh "I feel like I am losing my way," while the synths buzz and swoop around him.



"The Kiss" starts from a blast of synth washes and throbbing synth bass, gradually building in intensity to a four to the floor beat. The narrator again pouring over the minutiae of a recent encounter wondering "If it wasn't a kiss
Then I don't know what it was."



Changing things up, the band employs singer Elise Zalbo on the upbeat track "Wicked," that could almost be called funky. I wished they had used her or another vocalist a little bit more on some other tracks. While Angergård's voice can be lovely, it also can be quite monochromatic.



The album isn't all beat driven, there are plenty of memorable, frosty Scandinavian mid-tempo and more experimental passages. The aching and lonely pulse of "Years Go, Days Pass" is perfectly matched with Angergård's lost boy vocal.



"Sound of Silence," is a gorgeous, fractured instrumental, that borders on the urban despair of Burial.



"Wired" sounds like awakening slowly from a dream, with snatches of memories flooding in and around you.



The Sea of Memories is not an album that hits you over the head. It is subtle and earnest, but finds a way to seep into the blood stream. As I mentioned, it is not going to win any awards for originality, it is just synthpop with a Scandinavian edge to it, but the album is infused with a warmth that belies its frosty exterior. Give this album a chance, and you will find it constantly playing in your mind. That is what the best music does.

Rating Guide:

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top releases of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and peaks one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not great; could have either been polished, trimmed, or re-thought.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race.