With Spring in full force and Summer and its wonderful promise of festivals just round the corner there couldn’t be a better time for ‘Things to place on the Moon’ by Odd palace to find its way on to my radar. It’s a bizarre album, its songs structures underplay the complexity of the musicianship that’s creates them leaving them feeling familiar after even the initial listen but allowing for more depth to be discovered and enjoyed upon each subsequent spin. Its upbeat and clever and spans from pop to rock with a dusty coating of prog along the way.

The songs for the most part are short and to the point, opener ‘Carnivore’ builds its vocal melodies whilst the music simmers in the background before its huge memorable chorus kicks in. ‘Chemical Solutions’ is more in the vein of Twelve Foot Ninja with its poppy vocal quirks the perfect accompaniment to the complexity of the guitar work that runs throughout its length. The second single ‘Liars Attire’ has the band show off their inner Mars Volta, a great slab of prog pop that’ll get stuck in your head from the first listen before giving way to the fantastic ‘Through Your Eyes’ which is so beautifully written, a constant build and refrain whilst displaying some immense bass work.

 

And then…just when you think you have the band nailed, they follow these morsels of chorus laden tasty goodness with the albums title track which is almost as long as the previous efforts combined! Clocking in at just over 13 minutes the band prove their progressive roots in a tune which has a brooding Radiohead inspired build, stampeding chorus and takes some inspired twists and turns along its way.

 

Having found their full prog mode the album goes back to a shorter song length but with more emphasis on experimenting with styles, ‘Delirious’ is a short upbeat number yet manages to squeeze in a plethora of ideas whilst ‘Insomnia’ slows the pace and heightens the emotion in the first half morphing into Mars Volta synchopated rhythms and sax at the end…lovely!
‘The Alchemist’ and ‘Counterpart’ are of more standard rock fair with the bands now trademark big and beautiful melody and harmony stamped all over them before closer ‘Dead End’ another lengthier tune which shows off the band in full form displaying the very best of the elements which have made up the album to this point.

Inspired by prog bands old and new but with a delivery squarely in the new camp I would definitely recommend this album for fans of Voyager, Mars Volta, In Search of Sun, Lithium Dawn, Opensight and Twelve Foot Ninja. Its an immensely addictive album that’s upbeat and instant enough to appease immediately whilst being complex and varied enough to bear scrutiny and ensure that you will continue to come back to it time and time again! You’ll be singing along to this beast for years to come!