Palace : Ultrasound (Gatefold Red Vinyl)

While writing the first batch of songs for the album, frontman Leo Wyndham’s partner suffered a late miscarriage, which left the band’s chief song-writer bereft and adrift. ‘Ultrasound’ naturally became an open diary of their year-long struggle from devastation to deliverance. Album opener ‘When Everything Was Lost’, is chilling ozone rock with a hint of Bon Iver, capturing what Leo calls ‘that initial bombshell feeling’. From there, ‘Ultrasound’ picks its way through the wreckage, seeking light, with the languid and lustrous pop-gaze trio of ‘Bleach’, ‘Nightmares & Ice Cream’ and ‘Rabid Dog’. The hallucinogenic ‘Nightmares…’ was based on a dream Leo had about seeing his partner in the afterlife: ‘It was a very beautiful abstract thing that we were together and there was this total acceptance of what had happened and it was euphoric,’ he says. The final stretch signifies a more reflective period. ‘Say The Words’ acknowledges the societal press