he story behind The Double’s Palm Fronds is an interesting one: drummer Jeff McLeod injured his hand prior to recording the album, but instead of delaying its production the band reconfigured its music to suit a drum machine, experimenting liberally with harsh electronic textures. Palm Fronds is, in the most literal sense, forced; its experimentation is not a result of gradual progression, but rather the consequence of a lack of options. The product is not nearly as romantic as the story, however, as Palm Fronds is neither a remarkable work nor a reprehensible one.

The album has few highlights, surrounded by several pieces of electronic noise that tend to fall beneath their own weight. These highlights—the creepy, yet alluring opener, “Blanket on the Beach” and the masterfully soulful, yet abrasive “Standing on a Levee”—represent the moments where The Double balance songwriting with the album’s imposed experimentation. Elsewhere, the band’s numerous ideas are disassembled to such a degree that what remains are fragmented, over-ambitious, and sometimes unlistenable pieces.

“A Throw of a Distance” is the most notable example of these tuneless dirges, unfortunately following “Blanket on the Beach”, and thereby exterminating the album’s appeal before one can appreciate its merits. The song, like many on Palm Fronds lacks a strong melody, yet where many of the others recover as a result of some intriguing ideas, “A Throw of a Distance” never introduces much to the collage of noise.

“Firecrackers in Sawdust” and “Soul Cougar/Dicey” illustrate the most common type of track on Palm Fronds—one that contains as many good ideas as it does bad. The production is muddled, the melodies are underdeveloped, but the jagged, dub-influenced guitars of “Firecrackers in Sawdust” and the Hip-Hop workings of “Soul Cougar” each have an extremely original appeal.

Palm Fronds unfortunately does not stand up to repeated listens, but intrigues momentarily, suggesting that The Double might eventually hit its stride with what is sure to be a unique formula. Perhaps the band should not be experimenting so bravely at this point in its career, when it has yet to develop its songwriting fully. But, for such an unavoidable experiment, it’s impressive that these songs please about as often as they disappoint.