Photo by Rico Moran
It’s often said that things in life become much clearer as time goes on. The growing pains supposedly all faded, our personalities settle, and any impulsive need to “try stuff out” just for the heck of it gets flushed out of our systems. As I near 30, I have days where everything does, in fact, make sense; still, there are many others where it feels like I’m a toddler who’s scaled a mighty jungle gym only to lose my footing at the very top. In other words: Stuff is still very much tricky at this age.
Century Palm, a Canadian band comprised of members of Calgary and Vancouver outfits like Tough Age and Dirty Beaches, are learning similar lessons as they shuffle through their existence. Their upcoming album, entitled Meet You, finds them grappling with a reality which has thrown them more than a handful of curveballs. As the band’s Andrew Payne put it in a press release, “The album is about the subtle tones of despair that arise just from existing.”
The loss of a friend, which they explore on Meet You track “Then You’re Gone”, might be one of the more devastating challenges Century Palm face. “All things you’ll never say, all things we’ll never do,” they sing on the bleary-eyed and morose post-punk cut, meditating almost torturously on the void that death creates. Loss is something that hits them hardest, as Payne explains in a statement to Consequence of Sound:
“Then You’re Gone’ is about the passing of my friend Scott Luit, who lived in Calgary. In 2013, I made a 4-day stopover there to play Sled Island with Ketamines and Zebrassieres. Scott and I had plans to meet up, but unfortunately a wide-scale flood was in its early phases. Heavy rain caused Calgary’s rivers to overflow and most of downtown was evacuated. The rest of Sled Island was cancelled, large parts of the city were cut off from electricity and traveling around Calgary wasn’t recommended, or even possible in some parts.
Because of the flood we had to cancel our plans, thinking we’d see each other next year. Not long afterwards, Scott suddenly passed away, and ‘Then You’re Gone’ is about that shocking moment when I realized I wouldn’t be able to see or talk to my friend again. You can’t always assume there will be a next time.”
Check out “Then You’re Gone” down below via its corresponding music video. Directed by Travis Boisvenue, it echoes the track’s sentiments with its surreal and sometimes blurry imagery.
Meet You arrives March 10th through Deranged Record. For more, hear the lead single, “King of John St”.
The band will tour behind the record beginning next month:
Century Palm 2017 Tour Dates:
03/02 – Toronto, ON @ The Monarch Tavern
03/03 – Montreal, QC @ Turbohaus
03/04 – Ottawa, ON @ House of Targ
03/09 – Sudbury, ON @ The Townehouse
03/10 – Thunder Bay, ON @ The Apollo
03/11 – Winnipeg, MB @ The Handsome Daughter
03/12 – Medicine hat, AB @ Cpatain’s Cabin
03/14 – Lethbridge, AB @ The Owl
03/15 – Nelson, BC @ The Royal
03/16 – Abbotsford, BC @ Carpark Manor
03/18 – Vancouver, BC @ Astoria
03/19 – Victoria, BC @ The Copper Owl
03/22 – Edmonton, AB @ The Buckingham
03/23 – Calgary, AB @ The Palomino
03/24 – Regina, SK @ O’Hanlons
03/25 – Saskatoon, SK @ Vangelis
03/30 – Peterborough, ON @ The Spill
03/31 – Toronto, ON @ The Monarch
