It’s hard not to fall into romanticizing the world beyond what you call home. The grass is always greener, but sometimes true reward comes from valuing the verdancy beneath your feet. With Pallmer’s latest release, “Quiet Clapping,: the chamber pop duo are taking stock of the positivity that comes from calling New Brunswick home, and affirming that artists don’t always need to chase after broader pastures to find fulfillment.
The track has an interesting quality to its soundscape. The vocals of Emily Kennedy rest a bit underneath the front-facing strings herself and Mark Kleyn beautifully brandish. As her vocal melodies rise and fall, it feels as though her delivery is riding a wave, rising up in strength and placement before descending back beneath the bed of strings. The pizzicato sections have a charming, fairytale quality to them that keeps the song aloft and moving, and the bowed phrases are wonderfully concise and emotive. Kennedy and Kleyn have wonderful sonic chemistry here, their parts weaving together as a gentle but resilient braid.
Erin Goodine’s video for the song mirrors an aspect of the sound in a way. Showing Kleyn and Kennedy hidden among trees and foliage, something about it evokes the same quality of Kennedy’s vocals burrowing beneath the strings; they both inspire a notably woodlands feel. The majority of the video is composed of mostly still tableaus, a large sheet serving as a staple throughout many shots. While a conceptual idea is not easily ascertained from the video, the visuals are well done with a variety of textures of both nature and materials holding the eye’s attention.
The care for New Brunswick shines through in Kennedy’s words throughout the song, as well as speaking to the thoughts of needing to escape.
“It dawned on me that I’d been using time at home as a period to recharge for something else,” she explains. “But for what? I was
happier than I had been in a long time, and didn’t want to throw that away.”
It’s a common thought among a lot of east coast artists that eventually you have to move on to find success. But a lot can be gained by investing oneself in the communities of one’s home. Pallmer express with “Quiet Clapping” their own resolve to be connected to a place that enriches them. The grass isn’t always greener – it’s just a different colour.