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Palana, the debut solo album from Blouse singer Charlie Hilton, begins with the moody, introspective title track—a song which, at a glance, would seem to be about longing for a friend or lover or relative. Actually, she's singing to a boat.
"Years ago, I lived on a sailboat, and my husband named the boat after me, but he named it 'Palana,'" her birth name, says Hilton, who happens to be sitting at a marina somewhere in Portland when she answers her phone. Hilton changed her name after high school, saying Palana represents "the older me." So perhaps it's a stretch to say the song is only about a sailboat. "My parents were, like, hippies and they followed this guru, and they were just, like, really into him," she says. "I don't want to say 'obsessed,' but they loved him enough to have him name my sister and I."
Of her decision to change it, she says: "I think after having a lifetime of that name, it felt really heavy. But I always felt a little guilty about it, like maybe I was shoving it under the rug."
Hilton is soft-spoken and candid, which is also a good way to describe the sound of Palana—intimate and quiet, but with a tint of dark humor and traces of lighthearted kitsch. Hilton's vocals and lyrics are at the forefront, something she says was a conscious change from the nocturnal haze pop of Blouse. Her vocal style is distinctly different, too. A fan of late-'60s folk pop, Hilton affects a distinctly Nico-esque elocution, and channels Songs From a Room-era Leonard Cohen on "Funny Anyway." But what makes Palana more than just a nostalgia trip are the strange synth sounds and drum machines that dot the album, adding cosmic ambiance to the dreamily existential "Something For Us All" and propelling the shadowy dance jam "Let's Go to a Party."
Producer Jacob Portrait, of Unknown Mortal Orchestra, came up with the idea to title the album after the name Hilton abandoned years ago. "It was terrifying to me," she says. "It made me feel really vulnerable because I feel like I'm kind of haunted by the name in this weird way." Ultimately, Hilton decided that vulnerability was a good thing: "It felt like I was just giving a little more of myself."
Although Hilton readily describes herself as shy, she says sharing such personal things is actually easier for her via music than person to person. "It's the one medium where I get to express myself methodically and feel not shy," she says. "It's almost like you can embody some sort of other version of yourself and be able to say what you want to say." SHANNON GORMLEY.
SEE IT: Charlie Hilton plays the Liquor Store, 3341 SE Belmont St., with Candace and Mini Blinds, on Tuesday, Feb. 16. 9 pm. $10 advance, $12 day of show. 21+.
Willamette Week