by Ljubinko Zivkovic (@zivljub)
If the opening title track from Naima Bock's debut album Giant Palm is any indication to the listener, it is the possibility that the record will run as many musical points as it possibly can. The song starts of as a Stereolab spin-off and then veers off into a direction of its own. The following track, “Toll,” starts off as a take on Sandy Denny or Pentangle, and again, goes somewhere else where Bock drew her inspiration from, possibly free jazz embellishments. Then, if you try and explore a bit where Bock is coming from, things become a bit more clear. Bock was born in Glastonbury (of all places) to Brazilian and Greek parents, living both in Brazil and all over London.
Learning that, the varied musical influences and Bock's idea of combining them does not come as such a surprise. What could be a surprise is that although it is her debut album, Giant Palm is so assured and inventive, as if Bock has been at it for ages, showing the abundance of talent that is required to be able to do so. Still, Bock has been working meticulously at her craft for years, basically letting the songs she presents grow organically, almost by themselves, while working to develop her songs as a part of South-London folk collective Broadside Hacks (as well as Goat Girl), something particularly felt in tracks like “Every Morning”.
Yet, all of the tracks have at least a trace, or more than just a trace, of experimentation. The moody, ambient-esque “Dim Dum,” features excellent arrangements, and the fact that more than thirty musicians collaborated in recording these songs, with each actually serving their specific purpose. The same could be said about Bock's layered and thoughtful lyrics. “I never change lyrics” she says, “even if I don’t relate to them anymore, I related to them once which means someone else could, somewhere”. That approach seems to have worked like a charm for her.
Of course, her Brazilian heritage and the fact that she spent part of her childhood in Brazil itself, crop up all over the album, particularly in tracks like “Working” and the closer “O Morro,” adding to the fact that Giant Palm is one of the more inventive and assured debuts of 2022.