It’s been about two months since I last updated, which was not my intention. Life has been busy and at times I’ve been distracted. I have some long overdue album reviews to do though. One of the albums dropped on May 20th. It’s Flume’s third full length, Palaces.
Palaces is Flume’s first album in 6 years. His last record came in 2016 with Skin. His latest brings more of electronic/future bass sound filled with collaborations and original mixes. For me, there isn’t a stand out track on this album, but there’s a few solid tracks that I think we’ll hear during live sets in the future. One of those songs is “Say Nothing” featuring MAY-A. I would add “Highest Building” featuring Oklou to the list as well. There’s several solo Flume tracks that are similar to past hits like “Wall Fuck”, “Helix”, “Holdin’ On”, or “Ezra,” but in general I don’t think any of these will quite hit as strongly. I do enjoy “DHLC” and “Love Light” though.
Overall I don’t think this is Flume’s best album, but a decent comeback after 6 years of nothing but a mixtape and a few stand alone singles that have become staples on the Flume set list. None the less, Flume is out promoting this album by playing the festival circuit while mixing in some shows in between. He has a fall tour lined up with select cities in the U.S. followed by a European tour. I was lucky enough to catch him both weekends of Coachella and part of his set at Bonnaroo just last month. He still puts on a great set with a mix of new tunes and old favorites. Though I do recommend listening to this new record, I wouldn’t spend a ton of time on it. Give it a listen or two, pick out some favorites, save them or add them to a playlist for the future, and move on, or better yet, listen to all the old Flume bangers while you’re at it. “Holdin’ On” still hits as hard as it did 10 years ago, but “Sirens” just isn’t there.
The Spentertainic Source 