Palm is a four-piece art rock band with a warped and circuitous sound layered with tricky time signatures, unpredictable arrangements, and noise elements. They released a pair of highly regarded albums, 2015's Trading Basics and 2018's Rock Island, before delivering the still more intricate and noisy Nicks and Grazes (2022), a record informed by metal as well as electronic influences.

Formed in the early 2010s while attending New York's Bard College, Palm is led by co-vocalists/guitarists Eve Alpert and Kasra Kurt, with Gerasimos Livitanos on bass and Hugo Stanley on drums. Released by Exploding in Sound and Inflated Records, their 2015 debut, Trading Basics, was met with widespread critical accolades. After relocating to Philadelphia and touring nationally a few times over, they signed with Carpark Records. Boasting cleaner production but just as shambling and eclectic, the Shadow Expert EP arrived in 2017. Working again with engineer Matt Labozza (Kings Destroy, Chumps), the band rented a farmhouse in upstate New York to record their next album. Released in 2018, Rock Island saw Palm delving further into abstract arrangements and using techniques like MIDI triggers to replace more conventional rock sounds.

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 resulted in Palm getting a much-needed break not only from relentless touring but from even seeing each other. They eventually regrouped and plotted an album with the idea of combining the spontaneity of their live shows with the exactitude of traditional electronic music. Incorporating prepared instruments, such as guitars augmented with drumsticks, metal rods, and rubber-coated gardening wire, Nicks and Grazes was produced by Matthew Anderegg (Mothers) and recorded by Labozza, both of whom mixed the album. It marked the band's debut for Saddle Creek in October 2022. ~ Marcy Donelson