JULY 3, 1993
REVIEWED BY EVERETT
TRUE
THE PALMS EP(Quigley)
THIS astonishing,
echoing, distraughtly beautiful, luscious sweep of an EP comes courtesy
of classically-trained pianist Jeff Martin and ex-punk/convict John Berry.
Imagine Leonard Cohen raised
on the spacious, lean streets of LA, or American Music Club shorn back to
when that whiskey bottle first started hurting Eitzel’s larynx. The scene from “Repo Man” where
the car starts ascending to the clouds, comes to mind.
We’re the ones left behind, caught in the wide open spaces, running.
Jeff is the one with the devastatingly expressive tenor
voice and four-string guitar. John is the one
responsible for all those chilling pieces of feedback and bruised guitar
which drift in and out. Melancholy, yet...
well, sombre
is the word which springs to mind. Feelings of opulence and grandeur
overcome the listener, and feelings of
ennui, hopelessness.
(Crassly: Swans with melodies.)
Timeless.