Laura Palmer are a punk rock band from Melbourne, Australia. Since forming in 2013 they have toured extensively around Australia and the United States, including some recent appearances at Pre-Fest and The Fest. In December 2016 the band released a new EP named All The Way. Their Facebook bio describes them as a punk rock band in the vein of Jawbreaker and Iron Chic - this got me quite keen to check them out.
Starting out with the EP's title track you are greeted with a crunchy melodic guitar track before the vocals kick in and you can immediately feel the Iron Chic connection. It's a slow paced almost spoken word vocal style that Iron Chic's Lubrano has mastered. Laura Palmer's Niam Hegarty does a great job of this style as well, it's a great way of getting a listener really invested into a song straight away as you don't have to really concentrate on the lyrics to get involved in the song. As you might expect the chorus is a full blown shout along, fists in the air affair. "All The Way Up, All The Way Down, Like An Old Friend Coming Round, All The Way Up, All The Way Down, Can You Feel It" is something you'll be singing after one listen.
The second of the three songs on All The Way is titled Blue Pills. Starting out with a thick bass line before some quick vocals and then finally settling on a mid tempo pattern. The fast start really caught my attention at the beginning and made me want to listen to the entire track. This is another track you will be singing along to immediately, with plenty of massive "Whoa-oh's" throughout. I can just imagine being in a tiny but packed club singing along to this at the top of my voice.
Finally we have the song So Much Rain. On So Much Rain Laura Palmer's other member Stuart Young takes the lead vocals. There is much more of a melodic feel with Young's vocals compared to Hegarty's and it adds a nice bit of variety to the Laura Palmer sound. It's still as catchy as the common cold though with the line "Gotta Dam It Up" frequent throughout the song. So Much Rain is a song about bottling up those feelings and not looking back on the past. Hegarty also added some nice harmonies to the track that gives the song a whole new layer.
It seems like every week I'm discovering - or in this case get told about - another excellent Australian punk band. The scene there is growing so much and it's all quality stuff. Laura Palmer are a band that offers a different sound, a brilliant sound. Looking forward to hearing more from these guys.
Stream and download All The Way here: https://laurapalmermelb.bandcamp.com/album/all-the-way
Like Laura Palmer here: https://www.facebook.com/laurapalmersgone
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