For their sophomore effort/Drag City debut, the enigmatic duo of Kamikaze Palm Tree (Dylan Hadley / Cole Berliner), slide elegantly into it, their tunes a harmony of ambiguity and nostalgia, cross-talking in the high register and rounded with thick bottom - a dancing clash of cognition and dissonance.

In their few years of life, they found themselves over two EPs and a live set (all on Bandcamp), exploring everything they loved, all at once, before landing a direct hit, with their album debut, 2019’s Good Boy. But that was then! Smash cut to the present, please. It’s time for some MINT CHIP.

Kamikaze Palm Tree are reaching farther down deep into their bag of tricks now, still in dialogue with an absurd shared intent they haven’t yet paused to question. The clamber of Good Boy has given way to pulsing aquatic compositions on MINT CHIP. Cole’s guitar tones, wire thin, bell-like, bluesy yet angular and down-tuned. Dylan's drumming, effortless yet precise, drives the emerging structures organically, nailing down their finely detailed canvasses into frames, all the better to backdrop her singing and sticking the landing of melodies and songs. The addition of Josh Puklavetz on bass, plus violin and clarinet (Laena Myers Ionita and Brad Caulkins, respectively) round out that special MINT CHIP flavor - all churned up in the foothills of Altadena’s Wiggle World Studios with Good Boy engineer Spencer Hartling back in the seat and head boy Tim Presley proceeding the producings!

Don't take our words for it - (g)listen to new single, "In The Sand", today! Bejeweled waves of aquamarine life roll in and ebb back again, leaving a glitter of sea-detritus spread over the insistent sing-song. A raw riff at song’s core, while seldom exposed, drives this subterranean creature with jet propulsion,  making for a fizzically frilling minute and a half. Watch the vid, directed by Owen Summers, and pre-order your copy of MINT CHIP for August 12th!

KPT ON TOUR

 

8/23 Lafayette, NY- Beak and Skiff Apple Orchards*
8/24 Shelbourne, VT- The Green at Shelbourne Museum*
8/25 Cambridge, MA - The Lilypad 
8/28 Chicago, IL- The Hideout+
9/1 Los Angeles, CA- Zebulon%
9/2 San Francisco, CA- Bottom of the Hill%
9/3 Santa Cruz, CA- The Catalyst Atrium%
9/5 Portland, OR- Mississippi Studios%
9/6 Seattle, WA- Barboza%
9/15 Santa Fe, NM- Santa Fe Opera House*
9/17 San Diego, CA- Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre*
9/20 Bend, OR- Hayden Homes Amphitheater*
9/21 Vancouver, BC- Queen Elizabeth Theatre*
9/23 Calgary, AB- Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium*
9/24 Bozeman, MT- The Elm*

w/Wilco *
w/The Lipschitz and Glyders +
w/Self Improvement %

 

* w/ Self Improvement