Makeout Palace and the progressive alt rock spin out of "Strange Birds"
Review written for americanpancake.com by Robb Donker Curtius
The absolute nimble musical intricacies of "Strange Birds" by Boston, Massachusetts' Makeout Palace pretty much slaps you across the face right away. Colin Ratcliff's fluid electric guitar lines (inspired by Radiohead's "Weird Fishes", hence the 'Strange Birds' title) compels you to listen as does the tightly wound constructions, shapes like Aidan Shapero quick drum fills and solid beyond in the pocket playing and Eva Levin's exquisite bass runs and vocal wail that suites the jaggedness of the song. This is also the first song that the trio have dropped a sax into and the choice is pretty stunning lending a jazz dipped chamber post punk aesthetic at times adding an artful dissonance. The outro with with the sax spinning out, the muscular bass pulling off it's own scene stealing as drums and guitar jam out is incredible and worth repeated listens just like "Strange Birds" itself.
Makeout Palace is on my radar screen. Cool.
-Robb Donker Curtius
