A Love Letter to Growing Older with Palmer’s “Picture Books”
Palmer is a 21-year-old musician based out of Nashville, Tennessee with an act for translating his life into songs. Kicking off a new era for Palmer, “Picture Books” continues to hold Palmer’s authentic indie sound while experimenting with new surf-rock beats recorded at Universal’s Est Iris Studios. Collaborating with both his bandmates and friends, Palmer’s indie sound is ready to take over this next year as he plans to continue releasing singles on a month by month basis. “Picture Books” discusses the nature of life itself, and through all those ups-and-downs, you will always have your person. Even when you’re 52.
[UNPUBLISHED]: I first found your music with your 2020 release of “Stay Inside” which came out at the beginning of the pandemic. Personally, that song helped me a lot during quarantine and lockdowns. Has there been a moment in your writing process for any of your releases, where it felt like a weight was lifted off of your shoulders?
[PALMER]: I feel like I know it’s a good song when I cry while I’m writing it. A lot of the ones that haven’t come out yet are genuinely so emotional. And I can’t really write otherwise honestly. If I try to just fluff something out, I never can. It always has to be emotionally driven or I just don’t care about it. The first time that I knew that I wanted to do music forever was when I wrote “Stay Inside” because before that I was just writing fluff. That was probably the first time that I wrote a song where I knew that it really meant something to me.
[UNPUBLISHED]: I read that you’ve moved 13 times including having a gap year in New Zealand, how do you feel these movements from different locations have played a role in the creation of your music?
[PALMER]: It definitely forced me outside of my comfort zone. I was constantly the new kid. It helped me grow a lot because without change you don’t really grow. When everything was changing around me I still had God and my family, and they were just my constants in my life. It’s interesting because once I moved to Nashville, I became way more of a hermit and way more introverted.
[UNPUBLISHED]: Let’s chat about your new single “Picture Books” - Congrats on the release, what does this new song mean to you?
[PALMER]: That one’s funny because I’m sitting here saying every song is so emotional and that is one of the first songs where I was like ‘bro, I’m just going to write a rock song’. It’s about dropping out of school and everything changing around me. Life changes, people are graduating now, we’re trying to find real jobs. The hook is: fall asleep to wake up 52, it’s about how when the world is changing around you, you still have your person. I tracked it at East Iris Universal, I played a showcase there in November and then they reached out and asked to track some songs for me. It was a really fun experience because I have always done the tracking myself but this was the first time I did the tracking outside of my studio.
[UNPUBLISHED]: How did that tracking experience influence you, would you do it again with an outside studio?
[PALMER]: A lot of people in Nashville are songwriters that write these songs, have them finished, then go to a producer to put it all together. Many times for me, I write a verse and a chorus and then I’m sitting at my computer for 10 hours trying to produce just those two sections. I don’t always have the full song done before starting production, so this one was different because I had to finish the whole song before doing anything in the box. It was definitely different but it was cool because I just focused on the music and not on pressing buttons.
[UNPUBLISHED]: As this single is your first release of 2023, is this signalling a new era of different themes and styles apart from your earlier discography?
[PALMER]: Yes totally! Bro, it kind of sucks because I literally got sick the day of my release and now I’m just starting to feel better. So it’s been very anti-climatic because I was so excited for this release and then I just got so sick. But now that I’m back on it, I’m excited to get working on stuff again. These songs are definitely way more polished and just better sounding. I’ve also been outsourcing mixing from a guy named Micah Tawlks which has been super helpful in making them sound great. The songs themselves just sound better and it’s definitely a sound where I know who I am as an artist a little bit more. I’ve been working on these songs for probably a year now. The first one I made for this project was back in February of last year, and I’ve just been slowly stacking them up. It’s finally time to roll them out.
[UNPUBLISHED]: Lots of people I feel are scared to grow up, but “Picture Books” is like a love letter to growing up with the one you love. What’s something that you hope your listeners take away from this song?
[PALMER]: I feel like there’s an overarching sense of hope in the song so that’s something I want people to take away from it.
[UNPUBLISHED]: What was your favourite moment during the making of “Picture Books”?
[PALMER]: We got free food when we were tracking at East Iris and we got Firehouse Subs every day, that was pretty awesome! The coolest part was definitely being with my band during the process because it’s always just me in my studio doing everything. The entire bridge into the song I didn’t come up with at all, we were just kind of messing around with it in the studio. It was really fun to have my band in on the creative process.
[UNPUBLISHED]: “Picture Books” is an amazing start to your 2023 discography, is there anything specifically you are hoping to accomplish this year?
[PALMER]: There is a “plan,” but I’m just kind of listening to the Lord and have the rest just flow as it goes. I was originally going to have the song come out in January and it felt like I was really forcing it and it just didn’t feel right. And then God told me to put out “Picture Books” in March. And during pre-release, Ava hit me up and wanted to work with me. She then helped me a ton before it came out. It’s really cool because if I put it out in January that would have never happened. My goal is to just put out these songs and listen to Gods direction.
[UNPUBLISHED]: If you could collaborate with any artist this year, who would be your dream collaboration?
[PALMER]: I’ve never really thought about that because it kind of terrifies me working with people that I don’t really know. One of my really good friends, her name is Paige Parucci, she’s going to sing a verse on this new song for me and honestly I’m really excited to work with her. I kind of just really love working with my friends.
