Palms

“Palms” is Thrice’s tenth full studio album, and the first released under their new record label Epitaph.

In an interview with Brooklyn Vegan, songwriter and vocalist Dustin Kensrue spoke about Thrice’s influences on this album’s sound:

So, with all the different sounds on this album, could you talk about a few bands or musicians that inspired this specific album?

One that I’ve noted recently in a couple interviews, is — guitar-wise, and bass too — the band No Knife. I can’t always point towards one band that’s influenced us in general over time, but that band… some of the guitar and bass work that they do, I can see some of that on this record on songs like “Just Breathe,” a lot of those, kind of weaving guitar parts. And then on “My Soul,” Ed kind of wrote the core of that song and Teppei kind of helped see it through in a band context, and I think he’d been listening to a bunch of Beach House at the time. There’s definitely some kind of Fugazi-ish elements in like, “A Branch in the River.” Probably some Radiohead in “Blood on Blood,” just the way that song kind of moves, and the way the guitar is pushing into that drum beat.

Lyrically, the album reflects Dustin Kensrue’s philosophical and theological shift away from certain conservative biblical themes that so often characterized his previous lyrics, and his shift towards theological universalism. He has stated that he no longer believes in biblical inerrancy or the Reformed theological system.

Dustin also speaks to hardDrive Radio about the concept for the album revolving around the idea of palms as a broad metaphor, as well as the story behind the album’s art: