Released today, ’Some Of The Beasts And Birds We Saw’, is the latest single from Storm the Palace, taken from their enchanting new album La Bête Blanche (18th November).
A five-piece based in Edinburgh but hailing from the US, Scotland and Spain, Storm the Palace’s sound reflects their varied backgrounds, musical styles and tastes, with members covering punk, indie-rock, trad folk and more in previous bands. With fantasy films having played a major part in influencing the sound – from Bowie’s synth-laden Labyrinth soundtrack to Jerry Goldsmith’s score for Legend, and the epic melancholy of America’s songs for The Last Unicorn – alongside musical references to Vangelis, Harold Budd, Scandinavian groups like Hedningarna, Scottish dreampop royalty like Broadcast and Cocteau Twins, Magnet’s Wickerman soundtrack, the psychedelic magic of Alice Coltrane, and of course Kate Bush, it is clear to see how the band came up with a record that is personal but expansive and unique.
The new single is an example of this: a stark sonic contrast between light and dark, ranging from folk to metal in its influences and featuring a melting pot of time signatures. “It may be the most personal track on the album”, says singer Sophie Dodds. “It’s about friendship, perhaps the friendship between me and [co-writer] Willa. About the many talks we’ve had on our lockdown walks and park drinking sessions, about how we’ve shored each other up in our creative lives despite a constant onslaught of disappointed and indifference”.
On the video
“The video is essentially a tribute to 80s fantasy films, such as Willow and Legend, except our version has an anarchic feminist twist. The story in the video bounces off the lyrics to the song, rather than relating to them directly, but both tell a tale of friendship and support between two women. There’s a scene in Legend where the princess turns evil (which also echoes Jean Cocteau’s 1946 masterpiece ‘La Belle et La Bête’) and I always felt that she suited that look much better. In our video, the princess turning ‘evil’ is the manifestation of her growing into herself and inheriting her full power.
“The video was filmed and edited by our drummer, Alberto Bravo, and co-directed by Alberto and myself. The costumes are by Gemma Vanson (whose designs have also been worn by the likes of Skin from Skunk Anansie) and were entirely made from things that we either found, borrowed or bought second-hand. The makeup I did myself.
“The real star of the video, however, is the house. Its location must remain secret, but I can say that it’s a beautiful, rambling mansion deep in the Cumbrian hills, featuring Georgian, Victorian and Elizabethan architecture, with grounds that include a formal garden, ruins, topiary and an orchard. When the owners said we could have the run of it for a weekend to film a video, it was a dream come true.
“We are very grateful to them and to Creative Scotland for funding the project. We are releasing an additional version with audio description so that blind and visually impaired audiences can follow the story.”
Visually stunning, brooding and climatic, soothing and haunting, Storm the Palace are clearly masters of invention.
The new album La Bête Blanche is released on 18th November 2022. It follows the band’s 2019-released LP, ‘Delicious Monster’, which earned critical acclaim and support across major UK radio stations like BBC Radio 6 Music, BBC Radio Scotland and more. The album will be self-released in conjunction with Abandoned Love Records, an indie label based in San Francisco: “This self-sufficiency has allowed us complete creative freedom. I believe our third LP, ‘La Bête Blanche’ is our most ambitious and original work to date.”
Storm the Palace will be playing two album launch shows in November:
Thu 24th Nov, Stereo, Glasgow
Sun 27th Nov, The Wee Red Bar, Edinburgh
Find Storm the Palace online:
Bandcamp / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram