Palm Springs
No Hurt Like a Broken Heart
Random Acts of Vinyl

Palm Springs recorded their debut as a tribute to the friend Alice MacGill who died in Thailand in 2004. Opener "Echo of me" is sternly moving, a fusion of Low and Tindersticks. "After Honey" is delicate and a tinkling piano and strings frame the singer's voice. "Softly to the Fallen" was a single and its heartwarming beauty is almost too much to bear. It resembles an acoustic Jesus and Mary Chain, circa Stoned and Dethroned.

"When I see the stars I think of you
And all the things you could've done
When sunlight fades
And the dust returns
I remember what you've become
Sighs "I am dust" quietly".

Palm Springs realize that songs of loss and songs of love are the same, and that to speak of death is to remind us to live. Like Arcade Fire's Funeral their songs of dying are oddly life affirming. Remembering loved ones we've lost is a very human thing.

Copyright © 2007 Anna Maria Stjärnell