Music by Bergman: Palm

Palm plays rock music backwards. Eve Alpert and Kasra Kurt’s guitars occupy themselves most often with the pace-keeping work typical of a rhythm section. Meanwhile, Gerasimos Livitsanos’ bass and Hugo Stanley’s drums perform commentary and reportage from their deeply embedded positions at the front. The band is firmly attached to the physicality of rock, but not as much its tone; their instruments tend to sound like any number of things at any given time.

None of the members of Palm are formally trained on their instruments. The band formed in 2011 at college in Upstate New York, when high school friends Eve and Kasra met Gerasimos and Hugo.

Palm have announced the release of a new album, Nicks and Grazes, which will be out on October 14 via Saddle Creek. They have also shared a video for the album’s lead single, “Feathers.”

The muses of La Musa: Ada Lea

Montreal-based singer/songwriter Alexandra Levy (aka Ada Lea) takes an introspective approach to lyrics, although she often backs them up with crunchy guitars and odd synths.  She signed on with Saddle Creek and released a steady clip of albums and EPs such as her 2021 effort One Hand on the Steering Wheel the Other Sewing a Garden. Ada Lea played in various projects around Montreal while also working on solo songs. In addition to being a musician, Lea is a painter and visual artist. The inspiration for her debut album, 2019’s What We Say in Private, came after a significant breakup, whereupon she immersed herself in her painting for 180 days; she ruminated on her feelings and wrote them in a journal, which she drew from when writing the album.