Album Review: Palaces by Flume

The Australian producer’s latest gets stuck between innovation and the urge to party like it's 2014 It has now been over a year since visionary producer SOPHIE passed away, taking with her that unique sonic sensibility which threw club culture into a meat grinder. Although he's more aligned with the mainstream, Australian-born Harley Streten, aka Flume, is perhaps her closest equivalent these days, and new album Palaces spends much of its runtime melding gnarly drops and melodious songwriting in a manner that won't surprise his fansin the slightest. Opening track Highest Building contains an earworm hook followed by a clumsy synth line that seems to mock its cadence, while I Can't Tell alternates between a shuddering, rumbling trap beat and moody break-up lyrics.

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His first full length album since 2019's Hi This Is Flume , Palaces has a number of surprising features from big names such as Caroline Polachek and Damon Albarn. These perhaps surprising features contributed to the unique form of this album, which is definitely much stronger in the second half. It's full of incredibly sharp hooks and punchy beats, broken with some softer moments in between.

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Inspired by a relocation to his native Australia, musician, DJ, and record producer Flume kicks off a new era with his highly anticipated third album, 'Palaces'. Following 2016's 'Skin' and 2019 mixtape 'Hi This Is Flume', 'Palaces' showcases a disenfranchisement by the bustling lifestyle of Los Angeles, finding inspiration and peace in the idyllic nature of his native country. Merging a production of poppy, hyperpop-inspired synths, vivid and off-kilter discordant beats, and recorded sounds of local flora and fauna, Flume's latest production eschews a hypnotic, electronic sound.

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