Palm Ghosts - Better to Know

The New Romantic era of 80s New Wave is probably my most favorite time periods in music. Whether it's Echo and the Bunnymen or The Cure or The Cocteau Twins or to some extent singles by INXS or The B-52s, that whole time period was beautifully expressive and to hear a song in 2019 that immediately sweeps me back to that much more innocent time in my life makes me swoon with enviable delight. It absolutely amazes me when a band can so succinctly capture a feeling and an attitude of an entire era and put it in a time capsule the way that Nashville based, Palm Ghosts has on their new single, "Better to Know". I easily hear so many influences in this track and it makes me feel absolutely incredible to be transported through time for 4 minutes and 24 seconds. I hear nuances of Kate Pierson's delivery mixed with Michael Hutchence and Daniel Ash in Joespeh Lekkas' vocal performance.

Go here and listen to the track. You should absolutely hear it before you go further. Go on. I'll wait.

I've had to listen to "Better to Know" over and over because while I want to pay attention to the lyrics and hear what he's saying, I just keep getting swept up in the absolute utmost joy in the song. The way they structure the track so everything comes in one at a time and builds the space for Joseph's amazing vocals, the building of the instrumentation toward the chorus, the dreamy space they create where you just get lost and wrapped up in nostalgic bliss. The intro alone has been in the making for 35 years. Christ, this song is just making my Friday the best day I've had in a long time. Atmospheric doesn't begin to properly describe how this track just fills up all the space you give it. It just grows and grows to match exactly what you need it to be. To be fair, this song has made me so freaking giddy.

I feel like this song is really about how you interact with yourself.

"The slack-jawed mantra in merging the two / The overreach for harmony in lies / Is of you more telling"

The things we tell ourselves in order to make it from day to day. The ideals we build into our own dogma that helps us interact with those around us while trying to be as true to ourselves as possible can sometimes be the most difficult challenge we face. We have to learn to bend like reeds in the wind opposed to staying rigid and firm in the eye of the storm otherwise we will break and never grow. The idea of introspection and digging into ourselves as we become more fully realized versions of who we are meant to be is terrifying in the social media age where everything is so carefully curated. I feel that the juxtaposition of these thoughts and feelings against the landscape of such a New Romantic song where things weren't as "artificial" in terms of interpersonal relationships is an incredible dichotomy.

As I've sat here for the greater part of a day, digesting this song, it's clear to see that if no where else, I need this message in my own life. To strip away all the attempts to be socially perfect and white glove test approved and just be myself because in the end of the day, it's me; the real me that matters and the people in my life are there because I am that person. They're in my life for the same reason because I love them and not the idea of them. Not the Stepford version but the version where all the imperfections, the bumps and bruises make them who they are. Not the color corrected, over filtered selfie version and I think we all need to remember that on even our worst days. It's not who we perceive ourselves to be that matters but who we truly are and what we represent.

I can't wait to get to know these guys and gals more because I think their musical point of view is sorely missing from today's pop landscape.

Click here to preorder the single today!!