Fake Palms

Fake Palms took shape as the creative outlet for Toronto-based Canadian songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Michael le Riche, who enlisted a revolving roster of indie rock players to craft melodic yet abrasive indie rock built around taut guitars and forceful rhythms. Echoing punk’s raw drive alongside the bright urgency of indie pop, the project pursued a jagged, high-volume approach on its 2015 self-titled debut album; after pursuing a more polished production aesthetic on 2017’s Pure Mind, le Riche and his collaborators later stripped away ornamentation to recover an unvarnished clarity on the 2022 return Lemons.

Le Riche first launched Fake Palms as a recording endeavor after growing weary of the refined electronic pop he had helped shape in the Darcys. He began composing guitar-driven material with a harder bite and tracked it alongside musicians drawn from other prominent Toronto acts: guitarist Lane Halley of Hooded Fang, bassist Patrick Marshall of Burning Love, and drummer Simone TB—also known as Simone Tisshaw-Baril and Simone Elizabeth Baril—who had previously played with U.S. Girls and Highest Order. When the initial mixes of the 2015 debut arrived too pristine, le Riche and producer Ian Gomes ran the recordings through a four-track cassette machine to impart additional grit; Buzz Records issued the album, prompting the band to undertake a 12-day North American tour. Le Riche reconvened the same musicians for the four-song EP Heavy Paranoia in 2016 and again for the full-length Pure Mind in 2017, an album that heightened melodic focus and studio sheen while preserving the music’s serrated instrumental attack and rhythmic jitter.

After several years of inactivity prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic and by le Riche’s involvement in the group Sauna alongside Zach Bines of Weaves and Braeden Craig of Greys, he revived Fake Palms with a fresh configuration and a renewed emphasis on directness. Drawing inspiration from foundational punk outfits such as the Dead Boys and the Buzzcocks, the 2022 album Lemons was recorded with producer and engineer Josh Korody and featured Evan Lewis of Ducks Ltd. on guitar, Braeden Craig and Benjamin Reinhartz of Dilly Dally on drums, Laura Hermiston of Twist on vocals, and returning contributor Patrick Marshall on guitar. Lemons marked Fake Palms’ first full-length release on the Toronto indie label Hand Drawn Dracula.