Concert Review: The Palms Turn My Bad Day Into A Good Night At Mercury Lounge

Playing Mercury Lounge on Monday, The Palms are an L.A. band that had already sparked upon my radar because they are genuinely playable. Their songs embody the sunny, casual glamor that is associated with L.A.. Simply, they exemplify coolness even when they are singing to the dreadfulness of people, of which, unfortunately, L.A. can have, as well. Yet, my review begins with a slight story.

You ever had one of those days that did not go right. From missing nearly every train to leaving your credit card/ license at a local restaurant…. yeah. That was my Monday. By the time, I got to The Palms, I had a dead phone, dead feet from “schlepping” across the city, and a nearly dead spirit. Then I heard the most glorious voice of Ben Rothbard. This young man has been blessed with the vocals of men like Matthew Logan Vasquez and Bob Dylan, of which all of them have this strange capacity to make their vocals appear stemmed from the depths of their being. While most singers emanate their vocals, Rothbard seems to dig and trudge it up; playing up the exhaustion and exuberance that is the world of L.A. in songs like, “Push Off”, “Stupid LA Love Song”, and “Beach Daze” . His grace upon the stage is torn between approachability and aloofness. It is like you want to come up to him and have a chat about the very real lyrics The Palms emote of being the only in the room with a soul, and the struggle to decide if that is good or something you want. Yet, you also want to keep the distance, and relish the emotive range that Rothband shoots forwards as if, on record, his voice is enjoyable, but, in concert, it aims for inspiring. Not to mention, you can be captured by Johnny Zambetti’s presence as a co-pilot driving their sonic airplane through the world of L.A.. Zambetti strings his guitar like it is the colors and canvas to Rothband’s painting vocals, of which the two never stray to far from each other’s side on the stage; evoking a kind brotherhood that will make you want to grab a friend and start your own music duo.

For me, the most exciting part of The Palms as a performance, and thus their future, is their bouncing melodies and poignant lyricism. It is always exciting to catch different details from an artist’s song in their live show compared to on your ipod. As they played and summoned the superficialities and stupor of relationships, dreams, and insecurities of L.A. life, they, oddly, made the audience want to grab a ticket an explore this world that seems like it should be more on the Discovery Channel than in California. That ability to radiate humanity over chords that are as wavy as Venice Beach made The Palms replace all the badness of my day with the goodness of night. For More Information On The Palms Click Here.