Fresh off a triumphant release of their new and effortlessly captivating album, Shoals, mastermind quartet Palace continue their powerful stride with a highly-anticipated stop at San Francisco's Portola Festival 2022, which is just one of many on their showstopping global tour. This performance will occur on Sunday at 2:05pm at the Pier Stage, and is expected to be a compellingly passionate and complex soundscape, all with our endless waterfront views as the serene backdrop.

Hailing from London, Palace first came onto the scene in the mid-2010s and immediately dominated the indie rock genre, showcasing an ingenious sound that delicately balanced bold orchestral production with poignant and introspective lyrics. Since then, the talented four only continued to skyrocket into tremendous success, amassing over 1.5 million Spotify listeners and performing at sold-out venues to their devoted worldwide audience.

Whether it's the haunting vulnerability in "Head Above The Water," or "Heaven Up There," or the poetic imagery in "Tomahawk," there is a consistent essence of gentle rawness in all of their songs that softly permeates and stimulates emotional reflection. With Shoals, the album radiates growth and authenticity, transcribing a spectrum of existential feelings through clever reverence to both 2010s beats and vibrant aesthetics of the natural world.

We had the grateful chance to chat with the visionaries- Leo Wyndham, Rupert Turner, Matt Hodges, and Harry Deacon, on about how this album came to be, as well as their connection to nature, San Francisco, and more.—

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Hello, thank you so much for taking the time to chat! I first would love to know, having visited San Francisco back in May 2022 at the Fillmore, what are any aspects of this city that you appreciate, and do you have any favourite food or sites?

We can honestly say that San Fran is one of our favourite cities we’ve ever visited as a band. Driving over the Golden Gate Bridge coming into the city has always been a real moment for us. We first played there in 2020 at ‘Slims’ (which sadly has since closed down) on our first US tour. It was a truly electric show.

We had a chance on the day also to wander around the city and head to all the obligatory spots like Haight Ashbury which we’d heard so much about over the years. Playing the Fillmore too was an incredible experience. To play on a stage that bands like Jefferson Airplane and The Grateful Dead have played was very surreal! We listened to Aretha Franklin ‘Live At The Fillmore West’ before we went onstage which was like a a weird outer body experience.

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Shoals is the culmination of translating existential emotions of fear and anxiety through complex sounds inspired by 2010's indie & electronica. How did you decide on these sounds and album artwork to pair with the mood and lyrics?

I think the process always comes very naturally and organically with us and is never too premeditated. There might have been a few words and ideas on things like using more synths and electronic elements - and infusing some James Blake sort of aspects to it. Aside from that it wasn’t too overthought and sort of just took shape that way. I think in a sense the biggest thing we felt was not to feel shackled by our old shape and sound - to try things and be brave and not be afraid to sound different. The more confidence builds the more we feel the courage to do so.

The lyrical themes were very much shaped by the lockdown experience. That idea of having your everyday distractions taken away and suddenly having that time to look inwards and seeing who you really are. It was a time where you couldn’t hide from yourself and things would rise slowly to the surface that you couldn’t avoid. It was a super cathartic and intense experience.

With the emotions that inspired this album, including those from the lockdown experience, I want to ask if you have any advice or mindful tips, for men in particular, in regards to the importance of addressing mental health and their feelings?

I think the most important thing is to remember it’s okay to say that you feel vulnerable and that you’re struggling. It’s really that - trying to make men realise that expressing how you really feel is in no way a sign of weakness. I think there’s still huge amounts of work to be done to iron out this idea that men can’t and shouldn’t express emotion. It can be frightening to do so and it takes alot of courage but when you do speak it can be like purging and releasing this incredible pressure within you - and with openness and honesty comes change and growth and a chance to get better.

I think also that it’s important to remember that seeking help and speaking to a therapist is not a sign of weakness - in fact it’s the opposite and can be an incredible life changing/saving support in times of vulnerability. It’s a real lifeline. In the UK suicide is the most common cause of death for men under 50 so there’s clearly still a stigma that needs to be dismantled. We have to encourage men of all ages to talk to their friends and family more and normalise what it is to express pain.

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That is definitely crucial. One beneficial way to find peace and reset is to go out in nature, which also happens to be a recurring theme and imagery throughout Shoals. How vital is it to connect to nature, and where specifically are your ideal nature getaways?

We truly believe that nature really is the great life force experience. It’s played an incredibly important part in all our lives and it has a healing and restorative quality like no other. Swimming in the sea is one of the great joys - no matter how cold. Colder the better sometimes. We’ve all grown up a stones through from the ocean and it’s been a massively important backdrop to our lives. I think when you’re in the sea it’s perhaps the one thing that can make you feel most present and in yourself - mentally it takes you right into that present moment and it’s hard to look backwards or forwards which is what we seem to spend our lives doing.

When we’re on tour we always make it our aim to seek out a wild swim - it definitely can give you that much needed cleansing feeling from the crustiness of weeks on the road. Hiking too is a great love - we have a dream to hike near San Francisco and one day see the Sequoias and Redwoods. Hopefully some time on tour we’ll manage to squeeze in an off day around a San Fran show where we can catch them. It’s definitely a life goal to also hit some trails in Yosemite, Yellowstone or some other US National parks. They seem on another level of beauty and vastness.

Nature plays a starring role in our music - its’ the unspoken heartbeat of our sound in a way. Someone once said our music sounded like the ocean - and that always resonated and made sense to us.

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Well San Francisco is definitely known for our cold waters! Now, an interesting aspect of this album was that it was made during quarantine, through passing files back and forth for four months. I'd love to know if that method strengthened the band's communication and creativity, and also how it feels to return to live performing?

It was a strange time as it forced us, like everyone, to work in a totally new way that we weren’t that used to doing before. It was actually an amazing time though as it felt in some ways more free to be able come up with ideas individually in our own time without the pressure of maybe having to turn the creative tap on all together in the same room. It was kind of liberating in a sense to have the freedom to try stuff outside of the studio, but then when the time came for us to get back together we formed our little bubble and were super excited to get back playing together in our rehearsal space and to start working through all the lock down voice note ideas we’d been sharing as a full band.

It made us appreciate all being together again when it happened that’s for sure. So yeah it probably did strengthen our communication as we had to get used to this new way of working, and then when we did get back together things really clicked and we felt really inspired to try out ideas and new production sounds and approaches that we might not have been in the headspace to do otherwise.

When we eventually did get back to live performing it was something else. It’s hard to put into words how much it meant to us to get back out there performing as it’s fundamentally what we love doing and we get so much from it as a band. Seeing and feeling the response from people at live shows is what keeps us ticking and striving to do more, it’s the best. Playing live is such an important thing for us and live music is such an important cultural necessity to bring people together to share in an experience, so it’s very good to be back.

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Lastly, if you could pick one line from any song that you've written that really impacts you, which one would it be and why?

Leo Wyndham: “So say what you want, but I’m the rising tide, I’m no force of God, I’m a thousand lies.”

I think this line from "Heaven Up There" has always resonated when I’ve sung it. I think it feels like a powerful snapshot of how I felt in another time in my life when I was mentally in a very different vulnerable headspace. It’s quite scary to remember the time but also gives me hope as it makes me feel how far I’ve come.

Rupert Turner: “And I’ll wait there, where sky becomes sea”

The opening line of the chorus in "Where Sky Becomes Sea," has alway felt so powerful to me, it has strong emotion which, I always love to hear when we play it live, it feels like a real moment in the show that everyone can connect to.

Matt Hodges: “And make this shadow in the mirror I see release me to the waves please.”

I love playing this song live and this line for me is just so emotive. It’s kind of frightening and has a power to it that is really intensified at this moment in the song as the verse builds into the chorus and the cymbal swell mimics the idea of the waves.

Thank you so much for your thorough and thoughtful answers, we cannot wait to see you live!

You can find out more on Palace here, as well as the Portola Festival lineup and set times here.

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This interview has been edited and condensed.