Years and Years find their sound in "Palo Santo"
- Carin
- Aug 13, 2018
- 2 min read
After the success of debut album, Communion there was much anticipation for the follow up. 3 years later and Palo Santo was well worth the wait.
Years & Years's sophmore album does not stray from the sounds and tones in the first album but rather builds on it to create a more refined, well produced electronic pop album. Palo Santo sounds like a fitting sequel to the first album.
Lyrically, themes of love, loss, failed relationships and even closeted men are explored. There are quite a few clever lyrics and tongue in cheek references. One thing Y&Y does so well is create a playful, somewhat sexy atmosphere to many of their songs. There are however, moments of vulnerablilty as found on the tracks "Hypnotised" and "Palo Santo". A recurring theme from the first album is religion and this continues on this album with many references to the Christian religion as found especially on the song "Sanctify". This song is especially interesting as it looks at a man who claims to be straight but is in actual fact showing interest in another man whilst using references to religion in the lyrics.
"you don't have to be straight with me
I see what's underneath your mask"
-Sanctify
Communion had many stand out songs such as "King", "Take Shelter" and "Desire" whereas with Palo Santo there aren't songs that stand out as the obvious hits out of the album. Rather it flows cohesively from one track to the next. The sounds all tie in together nicely which I found was somewhat lacking on the first album.
The marketing of this album consisted of the band building a futuristic dystopian world named "Palo Santo". This was followed up with a short film on YouTube. While this concept is extremely interesting and allows for multiple interpretations this message wasn't brought across clearly enough in the music.
Highlights on the album is the track "Hallelujah" which is a fun, catchy song that is sure to have everyone dancing in no time. It sounds like the musical sequel to the first album track "King". Another highlight is short track "Here" and this is a simple acapella track with a few voices harmonising with Olly (the lead singer). This really shows off Olly's vocal skills and is a beautiful, intimate moment on the album.
Palo Santo is a brilliant follow up album. Even though the concept of the album was not as clear as I would have liked, I cannot fault anything else. This album shows their growth in confidence and the result is a well polished pop album. Years and Years have found their sound and it works!
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