Brooklyn's Palberta have been part of Brooklyn's DIY scene for nearly 10 years, making short, sharp bursts of scratchy and melodic indie rock. For new album Palberta5000, though, they aimed for something a little different. “While punk music was our first love, pop music has become our fixation," the band stated when announcing the new album. "Throughout the making of Palberta5000, we were focused on making music that people could not only sing along to but get stuck in their heads... that and attempting to make songs longer than 50 seconds."
The new album is not a drastic, shiny, about-face, however. "While our melodies have gotten more melodic and our singing less harsh," the band say, "we haven’t strayed too far from who Palberta is, defiantly Palberta. And no one will shape us to be otherwise.” The songs on Palberta5000 are indeed some of their catchiest yet, and the production brings their distinct harmony style (long part of their live performances) to the fore. The album's out Friday via Wharf Cat but you can listen to the whole thing now, below.
As for those pop influences, we asked to elaborate and they came back with a list of songs, including tracks by Sheryl Crow, Justin Bieber and Avril Lavigne (plus Bill Withers and Arthur Russell's Loose Joints), complete with commentary from the band's Lily Konigsberg. Read that below.
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PALBERTA - SONGS THAT INFLUENCED OUR NEW ALBUM
"Soak Up The Sun" - Sheryl Crow:
First of all, we love Sheryl and Liz Phair so the fact that Liz is doing sick backup vocals in this just truly amps up the beauty of this song. We would say the guitar sound and harmonies influenced us a lot on this record. Also the blending of very different voices in a delicate way was very influential.
"Together" - Avril Lavigne:
This song informed the vocal production of the record. Very crisp, clear, and at the forefront. You are able to hear all the lyrics very well, which is something that a lot of music is missing.
"Confirmation: - Justin Bieber
We specifically love this song. However, the fluidity of this entire album and how simple it is influenced Palberta5000 for sure. We only have one feature on this record and that is Matt Norman's horn parts on "Before I Got Here". This album felt complete without extra additions.
"Is It All Over My Face" - Loose Joints
This song directly influenced "All Over My." Not much more to say except that the length and feel were everywhere on this song. Plus we directly almost quoted it when we sang "It's all over my face".
"Lovely Day" - Bill Withers
We love to belt this song together and challenge each other to hold out that “daaaaaay” for as long as Bill can. Bill’s beautiful voice inspires us to sing earnestly and from the heart
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Palberta also chatted with Deerhoof about the album over at The Talkhouse.
