On April 12th UK-based Wild Palms are due to release their One Little Indian debut Until Spring. Previously known as “quite an aggressive angular band” under the moniker Ex Lion Tamers, this tight-knit quintet challenged themselves to create a record that no one expected of them.

Front man Lou Hill met his band mates James Parish (drummer), Gareth Jones (bass), Darrel Hawkins (guitarist), and Bobby Krilic (guitarist, multi-instrumentalist) at high school in North London and when studying English Literature at Brighton University.

While they received local attention with their ELT effort Over Time, it wasn’t until the 2010 release of their first song as Wild Palms that listeners caught a glimpse of the band “getting to grips with a different kind of sound.”

“‘Deep Dive’ was kind of a transitory song. Until Spring is a lot more stripped down and chilled in parts,” Hill explained. “We pushed ourselves to cultivate a sound that would be able to create a certain atmosphere over the whole record. We wanted to make a record that had dynamism and played the serene off of the intense. We wanted to make something with an element of beauty and soul, something that we’re not known for.”

Producer Gareth Jones (who has no relation to the bass player) helped take Until Spring in the direction they wanted to head. “He’s very open to ideas and receptive to over-arching ideas about sound,” said Hill.

But their self-built studio, The Manor House, is perhaps the ultimate reason their sound has evolved so much. The singer clarified how the band “hated using other studios, the money, the time constraints, the shit equipment, how hard it was to get a time slot anywhere, constantly having to travel all over London.  We wanted a regular space where we could make music for as long as we wanted, use our own equipment every time, not pay through the nose for the pleasure. It just relieved the pressure and our songwriting changed because of it.”

“We always write in the studio together, work off of each other, keep it natural and vibey.We’re not writing music for critics we’re writing it for ourselves and for fans.”

The track “LHC” is Hill’s favorite off Until Springbecause, “it just completely took on a life of its own in the studio. It started from a little keyboard part I wrote at home and ended in a beautiful mammoth of a song kind of all on its own accord. It almost demanded what it wanted included.”

As thrilling as performing live can be [especially “Carnations”], Hill confessed that he enjoys being in the studio more and that the band treats each process as two completely different entities. “Recording allows you to do things you wouldn’t normally be able to do so we try to utilize that. Until Spring is very very different played live than it is on the record. I think that’s important.”

Even though performing at the Glastonbury Festival would be quite an honor, Hill already feels privileged to have accomplished all that he has as a musician. “As long as I’m allowed to keep creating music and releasing it, I’ll be happy. The greatest pleasure and satisfaction comes from creating music with my best mates.”

Wild Palms pushed themselves and came up with something they can be proud of. Hill and gang are more motivated than ever and are already looking forward past their pivotal release of Until Spring. “We’re going to be a lot more hands on from now on, we’ve got a lot of ideas to do with production and post-production that I think will feature heavily on what we do next.