Storm the Palace's third album is their most ambitious and accomplished to date. Far from being inhibited by the global trauma caused by the pandemic, this five-piece band have positively flourished while Covid raged. They have gathered strength and consolation from one another as the rest of the world stood still, a bonding process assisted in no small part by being able to retreat to a remote castle ‘somewhere in North Edinburgh’.
Coming to terms with the surreal experience of the pandemic lies at the heart of the album. Take for example the first single, Some Of The Beasts And Birds We Saw, which is accompanied by an entertaining spoof horror video. Band leader Sophie Dodds says of this song: “It’s about friendship, perhaps the friendship between me and [co-writer] Willa Bews. About the many talks we’ve had on our lockdown walks and park drinking sessions, about how we’ve shored each other up in our creative lives despite a constant onslaught of disappointed and indifference”.
The beautiful closing tune, Time Of The Bindweed, is even more specific: “Just picture the absence /And the empty, city streets /A wondrous un-winding / Time of the bindweed / And the end of history.” These poignant lines are enhanced by an faultless vocal performance from Sophie Dodds over a sparse organ backing.
Dream House, which was released as a single in 2020, explores the effect of enforced isolation on our subconscious and the relationship between fantasy and reality. Just as in the best of Grimm’s fairy stories, many of the songs are tall tales with beasties aplenty and no happy endings.
Alongside this updating of fables, cinematic inspirations and aspirations underpin both the songs and the band’s visual style. The magic and mystery of Jean Cocteau’s ‘La Belle et la Bête’ surely inspired the album’s title while in the afore-mentioned video, Sophie Dodds takes some visual cues from Ridley Scott’s ‘Legend’ (check out the devilish horns) and clearly relishes wielding her power over her minions as the ‘Red Mistress of Black Magic’.
The glamorous 1930s movie actress Hedy Lamaar stars in Frequencies To Victory although this song highlights her underappreciated skills as an inventor in the field of wireless communications rather than centring on her celebrated orgasmic performance in ‘Ecstasy’.
Back among the beasties, The Selkie Of Wardie Bay revolves around encounters with a mythical creature that resembles a seal in the water but assumes human form on land. In Ragnar, the one song with Willa Dews on lead vocals, we are warned of the baddest beast of all.” although this threat is somewhat undermined by the playful growls and barks of the band’s sixth member, Lily the dog, at the conclusion.
Born On The Other Side (“a tale of riches to rags”) has a tune that initially resembles ‘My favourite things’ from Mary Poppins but subtly leads the listener in a more sinister direction. This song illustrates how the album is on a similar wavelength to Dory Previn’s 1971 album, ‘Mythical Kings & Iguanas’ in that the bitter sweet songs are darker than they first appear.
Throughout, sympathies lie with strong women. In The Witch Bitch a sailor weds an apparently sweet young woman only to find her cavorting with the devil and taking the form of a blood-soaked bear. The man takes the wimp’s way out by settling for a “non-magical girl” instead.
In Black Swans And Dragon Kings a violent man is cautioned: “If fortune is female then accept thrashing her will have no effect.” ‘Wimmen’ get their ultimate revenge against toxic masculinity in the delicious black comedy of She Knows, a raucous tune with bagpipes about four women who murder the men in their lives.
The most singular track is Happily Ever After. This eccentric spoken word reading by violinist Jon Bews breaks the flow of the album yet the curious narrative , whether by accident or design, encapsulates many of the album’s key themes. He tells of a marriage between a man/beast and repressed merchant’s daughter which addresses sexual power games and the consequences of isolation. This is characterised as “A perfect congregation of flaws,” a label could equally be applied to the broad-based appeal of Storm The Palace. They do not play traditional folk, indie rock or power pop but effectively blend elements of all three. Being open to uncertainties is what makes the music real.As the man said, a perfect congregation of flaws.
In an ideal world this album would be the band’s big breakthrough moment. If this ever came to pass, they could all live happily ever after acting out 80s fantasy films in their castle of dreams. In reality , they will probably have to resign themselves to being a scandalously underrated band with a small but select cult following. Not a fairy tale ending perhaps but one that shouldn’t take anything away from the excellence of this record.
