Night Palace – Into The Wake, Mystified (Park The Van Records)
Ahead of a debut album slated for release in early 2022 ethereal indie pop band Night Palace share their first single from it, Into The Wake, Mystified, on Park the Van Records.
Artist: Night Palace
Track: Into The Wake, Mystified
Label: Park the Van
Released: 29 September 2021
Find it: Spotify
We are at the transformation of the year. Around us the leaves turn from their subtle tapestry of greens to individual artistry as they shed their season in ochre, crimson, and gold. We pop a collar against the first bitter winds, and brandish umbrellas as shields against the drizzle. From crisp porcelain blue to a dreary grey laid heavy on you, the sky turns.
And so, with the returning darkness and the onset of cold we look for the brightness of escape and dream again of vibrant worlds. Night Palaces lift a curtain and invite us into such a world on single – and album opener – Into The Wake, Mystified.
‘I can’t forget you / I don’t try / Can’t unhear the voice of a Lorelei / I dive into the wake, mystified’
Of the track frontwoman Avery Draut explains, “The song is about the thread that connects us to people we love, even when our seasons are no longer changing in tandem with them. I hope the song feels like iridescence and shadows, a night drive with the windows down.”
Shot through with woozy psych-bent notes, and shimmering vocals the track gently weaves around the myth of Lorelei – a beautiful maiden who threw herself into the river, despairing over a faithless lover, only to become a siren and start luring men to their deaths with her song. Here her story is touched up in the vocals, the melody breathing around the idea of succumbing to the call and sinking into another world.
The brief intakes of silence in the track, the distinct but cohesive sectioned structure of the track as it moves from barely there to a whirling climb, to held-steady pop before fractured guitar: this is far from your standard psych track. This is lights on the horizon, a fairground carousel spinning you through time, it’s the end and the start of something. Beautiful, intelligent, playful and only the first glimpse of what might lie ahead on that debut album. Heady stuff and a worthy escape from the season we’re in.
Into The Wake, Mystified by Night Palace is out digitally now on Park The Van Records. The debut album is slated for release in early 2022.
Find Night Palace: website | Facebook | Instagram | Spotify
Image: Bảo Ngô
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Sarah Lay
A long-standing music journalist she's also co-founder of independent record label Reckless Yes, an author of novels, and when not messing around with words and music, a digital strategist.
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