“Phoebe” has been a staple of Miami punks Palomino Blond’s live set for so long that they didn’t always need to clarify that the titular name isn’t a reference to the artist who practically achieved mononym status in 2020. It felt like the right choice, then, for the lead single to the band’s newly announced ontheinside LP, introducing the project with a patchwork of ’90s alt-rock influences notably defined by a wailing shoegaze guitar. The chorus, however, takes a more contemporary turn, sounding like a brighter, considerably-less-reigned-in version of one of Nothing’s Guilty-era heavy-dream-pop breakdowns.
“The bulk of its recording was nailed winter of 2019 at Jon Nuñez’ last studio,” co-vocalist/guitarist Carli Acosta explains. “His band Torche was supposed to go on a massive tour of Europe spring of 2020 so we chugged through those sessions like our lives depended on it, assuming we wouldn’t see him again for nearly a year. But attention to detail would have it so we weren’t satisfied with what we got rushing through those takes like that. Then, of course, the reality was that the pandemic happened, so while business as usual was put on hold, we ran through the songs with a fine-toothed comb to figure out what we could do in the studio to finally be satisfied. The song was then fully realized September of 2020 at the new studio Jon built. And what I just described is true for a couple of the songs on this album.”
“‘Phoebe’ is our modern spin on what a big-chorus rock song can sound like,” adds Kyle Fink, the other co-guitarist/vocalist. “We wanted to create a fuzzed-out anthem where there’s a hook happening at nearly every turn. As one of our very first songs, it’s finally coming to life after all the line-up changes and scrapped takes is a huge moment for us.”
Hear the track below, and pre-order the record here.
