palace oaks - insular mountains
Self-released
Released on August 8th, 2025
It is interesting seeing a sound and artistic identity make major leaps in development and growth over the years, and this relatively unknown artist is a prime example of that. Madeline Young has been a fairly discreet artist and avid music enjoyer whom I had the pleasure to see regularly at The Sewing Machine Factory back when I worked there prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, I got to see the first instances of Young launching this music project through acoustic sets that took notes from emo and alt folk music.
Young had been born in the West coast but lived in the prairies jumping between Calgary and Edmonton often. The name of the project came from the name for a sad-looking townhouse complex in Calgary that was two blocks away from where Young grew up, a place she associates with the green spaces and parking lot she used to ride her bike around. In recent years, Young left Alberta to live in Victoria, B.C. where she continued to flesh out the work going into palace oaks through early experimentations in full band arrangements as well as more eclectic explorations of sound through drone music — recently I got to see that she was doing a drone set under a bridge by the river, which is about the most soothing thing one could imagine. But the big news here is that palace oaks has released a proper and intentional debut album titled insular mountains. While her profile is pretty low, it is exciting to see that Young has been picked up in Reverie Magazine’s latest “New Music Roundup” segment. I am hoping that this review helps bring more attention to this project since this debut album is simply a strong introduction to the artistic vision and ambience that Madeline Young has worked hard to curate over the years.
The album is sonically oriented around what Young calls “folkgaze” which is such an apt description for her music — I might add that I still see elements of emo making their way through the twinkly guitars and overall sonic palette. The album kicks off with the lush upheavals of “distant memory pocket knife” which showcases Young's DIY accomplishments across her composition, lyricism, and audio engineering. Lyrically, the album has this wistful and decentered tone, with the narration coming oftentimes from a self-removing narrator giving way to naturalistic descriptions leaning heavily on the pathetic fallacy that makes the lyrical work poetic.
Among the stand out tracks of the album, here is what I would highlight: “game shows” has this 90s alternative sound that is deeply influenced by Yo La Tengo and executed on point. The different instrumental elements are blended so smoothly, with the body of the bass lines and the haunting vibe to the organ driving the song as the guitars come in and out. This track has some of Young’s dreamiest vocals in the album. There is also “sugar” which is a cover of post-folk Berlin-based musician Julia Kotowski (Entertainment for the Braindead). This cover does what an ambitious cover should try to do, which is transform the original track into something that the covering artist adds to. Madeline Young’s take on “Sugar” gives it that shoegazey edge that makes the song gain this more liminal and dissociative aura while still retaining the crucial elements that make the song what it is. The track “this is the worst time, forever” is the closest the album leans to its folk orientations while also bringing aspects of distortion and feedback as the song gains emotional gravitas — my only comment might be that although I am a big fan of the feedback in the track, I think the dynamics and the eq could have been adjusted to ease the peaks and harshness of the sound. And lastly, the closing and titular track is a soothing song giving the vibes of something like Wednesday’s “November” (although without the build up to a louder song).
Ultimately, palace oaks has delivered an incredible debut record with insular mountains. Having seen the progression of Young’s work over the years, I have to admit that the qualitative leap in this latest release is quite impressive and she should be commended for the strides she has taken in her D.I.Y. spirit. Fans of shoegaze, emo, and experimental folk are bound to get a kick out of this one. I just really want to make a point to uplift this record and give a spotlight to Madeline Young’s work since it is the kind of thing people shouldn’t sleep on.
