Slasher

Palace Winter’s Carl Coleman stayed busy while isolating at the start of the pandemic by watching horror films. It wasn’t long before similar themes started serving as inspiration for new songs. The paranoia and fear in the movies seemed to reflect the times, and the result is Palace Winter’s shimmering ew single “Slasher”.

After the release of their third album ...Keep Dreaming, Buddy in October, ‘20, Danish/Australian rock duo Palace Winter are back with racing drums, noir guitar, and murder mystery in their first single since. 

For Palace Winter, “Slasher” was a long-awaited return to songwriting together in-person. But that process was soon interrupted when Coleman discovered that the song’s subject—a killer in the street—was also inside of him. “While we were making the song, I got COVID and had to isolate for a week in a small Corona-hotel room. The bizarre situation made me reflect on the fact that there’s this ‘killer on the streets’, and for many of us there's a slim chance of avoiding it. Suddenly I had 3 meals a day left at my door, no contact with any other people and could only get fresh air in this super bleak shopping mall carpark. It was so dystopian, like a zombie flick.”

Keyboardist and producer Casper Hesselager reflects on Carl’s infection and how the duo tried to make the best out of the situation and move on from the experience: “After all the heaviness of 2020 and COVID etc., we wanted to make something fun and danceable. So we developed a beat inspired by 90’s drum ‘n’ bass and things like The Prodigy, Portishead etc.”

“There’s an element of “Ennio Morricone and Scott Walker discover 90’s Drum ‘n’ Bass about it” continues Hesselager, who is searching to incorporate disparate influences in the band’s music.

Hesselager’s sonic creativity is matched by Coleman’s cinematic themes, as he elaborates on the story behind the song: “I was thinking, what if we put Palace Winter into a slasher movie? What would it look like? What would it sound like?”

“Slasher” is the first song the duo wrote together in the same room since before ...Keep Dreaming, Buddy, which was written long-distance between Copenhagen and Tenerife. And despite the grave circumstances in the world and for Coleman, the song’s initial levity prevails in the end, as each chorus ends, among bright synths and racing drums, with the final line “But my soul keeps dancing”.