Painted Palms

Formed in Lafayette, Louisiana, this Bay Area band will immediately sound familiar to anyone who has been paying attention for the last handful of years to acts like Washed Out and Small Black, mainly because there is a similar effervescent, sun-washed flavor to Painted Palms' electro-pop. But there is also...

By Tom Murphy

May 4, 2011

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Formed in Lafayette, Louisiana, this Bay Area band will immediately sound familiar to anyone who has been paying attention for the last handful of years to acts like Washed Out and Small Black, mainly because there is a similar effervescent, sun-washed flavor to Painted Palms' electro-pop. But there is also a bit of blue-eyed soul, reflecting the more adventurous, synth-heavy groups of the '80s. It's almost as if these guys were creating a soundtrack to an imaginary movie inspired by the look of the films One From the Heart and Brazil — evoking a certain sense of nostalgia turned inside out. With a reissue of its Canopy EP coming out in June on Secretly Canadian, Painted Palms is bringing the full-band version of its kaleidoscopic sounds on tour with, appropriately enough, Of Montreal.

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Tom Murphy is a writer, visual artist and musician from Aurora, Colorado. He was a prolific music writer for Westword and a documenter of the Denver music scene.

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