Listen to a Chilly New Track from Toronto Post Punks Century Palm

Image: Rico Moran

Look at the above photo long enough and you start to lose feeling in your toes. The band is Century Palm and yes they are from Canada.

The shot was taken the day they filmed a video by a water treatment plant on the banks of Lake Ontario during a snowstorm. That’s real ice.

The music the Toronto band produce could be described as a little cold too. Chilly. A collaborative project between five Canadian music vets their sound has been compared to bands such as Wire, Television and "maybe a little Devo." They are about to release a 7” on Deranged (listen to the A-side “Valley Cyan” below) with a full length expected in 2016.

We had a quick chat with vocalist and guitarist Andrew Payne.

Noisey: I’m curious as to the meaning behind the name ‘Valley Cyan’.
Andrew Payne: It’s a more interesting way of saying "Valley With a Blue Sky." I also like how the words sound when you say them together.

It’s about what hikes in the Rocky Mountains in Alberta does to your mental state. Nature is a sweet relief from the terrible things you have to deal with in the human world. The type of silence and thoughts you get in the mountains just can't be replicated in the city. Out there, I dive deep into my own mind, re-evaluating my life and all of the things I regret doing. Bad, old memories surface, along with current events in my life that are bothering me. From all of this negative thinking I make plans for how to change my life so that it can be more enjoyable.

You have members from Alberta and Vancouver. Did they move to Toronto for musical reasons?
Paul, Jesse, Penny and I moved to Toronto for different reasons, and music wasn't the main motivation. Basically, you come to Toronto when you're bored of the limited options in the rest of Canada's smaller cities.

I was reluctant to move to Toronto even though I'd lived here before. I used to think of Toronto as a nature-devoid place where disrespectful workaholics live among mediocre fame-focused bands. I still think there's truth to that but now I realize it's not the whole Toronto story. Whatever kind of culture you're into, you can find it here. Artistic integrity and good songs can still exist in a bigger city. And the Toronto workaholics are actually very nice. I've had more encounters with cruel, ignorant strangers in Calgary than Toronto.

You recorded your video at a water filtration plant during a snowstorm. Is this meant to be symbolic/metaphoric of the band in anyway?
It's just what you do during a Canadian winter when you want to shoot a band photo right away. We didn't even plan to make a video. Paul took some video footage during our photo shoot and edited it to "New Creation". When he sent the video to us later that night, only then did we realize that we had made a music video.

In hindsight, the video is a good representation of the band. It's how we act when no one's filming us. Plus, the frigid air and snow is what we have deal with for a big portion of our lives. There's not much to do during winter so we shut ourselves inside and write songs. Our music is definitely influenced by a winter mood: feeling unsettled and uncomfortable but still seeing a positive side to it all.

Going outside during a winter storm didn't feel good but we got to see an amazing landscape that few others got to see, and we had a great time with friends – it was a memorable day.

'Valley Cyan' will be available Aug 22 through Deranged.

Catch the band at one these shows:
Aug. 22 Rockton, Ontario at Strangewaves Art and Music Festive (day show)
Aug.22 Toronto, Ontario at The Silver Dollar, (night show)