Encouraged by his relocation to rural New South Wales pursuing a ten years in LA, ‘Palaces’ signifies a homecoming for Flume. With the idyllic backdrop of his Northern Rivers foundation as an impetus, the Aussie electronic wunderkind eschews the glitched-out route of his earlier releases, in its place rebooting the type of instantaneous earworms that driven predecessor ‘Skin’. Twinning synth trickery with chart enchantment has been a mainstay of Harley Streten’s craft, and his third album carries on to blur the line amongst off-kilter and obtainable in its parallel-dimensioned pop. Opener ‘Highest Building’ sticks to this two-tone chemistry in skewing synth stabs with Oklou’s elastic refrains, ‘Get U’ intently rivalling in its alien-like pull. May possibly-A collaboration ‘Say Nothing’ champions the album’s radio-pleasant chops, while the hypnagogic ‘Sirens’ sees Caroline Polachek’s trademark vocals sign up for climaxing electronica – partnerships that seize the imagination and innovation at the heart of Flume’s output. This dynamic carries the reunion with Kučka on ‘Escape’ as well as the meditative Damon Albarn-featuring title observe, which faucets into the ecological origins of the document via its birdsong incidentals. From this new private phase, Flume’s most current techno-charged featuring upscales the drops, fidgety distortion and replay price that has proved a regular in his playbook.