Interview: Adam Sorensen of Ice Palace

Adam Sorensen — singer/guitarist of local rock group Ice Palace — is not your typical buzz-band frontman. His parents aren’t paying his tuition at MCAD , City Pages isn’t drooling over his tight-panted hipsterdom and there’s no air of irony about him. Instead, he’s pushing 40, works as a contractor and is grateful, to his core, that his songs are finally getting the attention they deserve.
And Sorensen’s work is worth all the attention. On Ice Palace’s recently released sophomore LP “Wonder Subtly Crushing Us,” the songs are decidedly mid-tempo indie in a The Wrens/Beulah underwhelming-but-still-great sort of way, but that’s just musically. With Sorensen’s prowess as a lyricist/singer, it’s downright baffling he hasn’t found success sooner in life. His fantastically weathered, earnest voice conjures both E of the Eels and David Berman of The Silver Jews . On top of sounding nice, his plaintive narratives wrestle despair and hope with an everyman’s poetic sensibility — and thrive in doing so.
Prior to making “Wonder Subtly Crushing Us,” Ice Palace’s lineup was completely revamped and now features scene fixture Jacob Grun of Me and My Arrow on guitar . It’s a lineup of musicians ready to work. The studio time used to record “WSCU” was paid for via Sorensen sheet-rocking Craig Minowa of Cloud Cult’s water damaged basement. It’s the same embracement of hard work that Ice Palace is beginning to channel. Aside from expertly arranged songs, a dynamic frontman and a generally accessible appeal, the most alluring aspect of Ice Palace is their lack of a sense of entitlement. These aren’t kids. They know how the world works and — as further driven home by “Wonder Subtly Crushing Us” — they know great music.
A&E caught up with Ice Palace frontman Adam Sorensen to talk musical growth, the Twin Cities music scene and, of course, Belgian blogs.
In what ways have you grown as a songwriter from “Bright Leaf Left” to the new disc?
I had written all of this record before “Bright Leaf Left” [Ice Palace’s 2007 debut] came out. As I wrote the acoustic demo, I thought this was the best batch of songs I’ve ever worked on. As I worked on it and new members came on, I was very excited watching the record take shape and build. Each person along the way affected and altered the songs, just building and building. Then, Craig of Cloud Cult took all the songs and arranged it and tightened it up.
A lot of reviewers have used words like “desolate” and “dark” to describe the band. When making the songs, what does this perceived darkness stem from?
I’ve tended to write gloomy types of songs from day one. I think both the first record and this record do have poppier songs. There’s a lot of hope and positivity that people don’t catch. It might be dark and odd, but not depressing. There’s definitely some gloom, but I tried to balance it out on this record. Actually, at some shows people are dancing.
If you had my job, what genre would you peg the band as?
Somebody wrote “bi-polar folk rock.” That’s as good as anything else. Straight up “indie rock” works, too.
What’s the best part and what’s the worst part of the Twin Cities indie scene?
On a whole, usually bands are pretty friendly with each other. You can do a show, meet bands and people get along well. Most people would say this, but also an incredible amount of diversity.
As for a negative, maybe the same thing. There are so many bands; everybody’s sorta going for the same thing. But I don’t have any bad feelings. There are a lot of great clubs to play, whether it’s a big show or the Hexagon , any night can end up being a great night.
You guys were in a Belgian battle of the bands. First, how’d that come to be? Second, how’d you guys do?
I just found that in a blog. It’s quite funny; there’s a cutout of my head and a boxer's body. Then there’s another band from England , and we were boxing it out. It’s all in French , and I can’t read French. So, I’m not sure who won.
You’ve been in bands for a long time without experiencing the success that’s starting to come Ice Palace’s way. What’s different about this band?
So I was in this other band five or six years ago. We recorded a record and did a CD release show. We did two shows after that release, and the band broke up. When I say things didn’t go well, you order 1000 CDs, do three shows and call it quits — you’re left with a lot of CDs.
I quit being in bands for a period of time thinking I didn’t want to do that. Since this has started, everyone’s a lot more focused. We didn’t take it seriously before. It was fun, but we saw it more as just fun. Also, everyone in Ice Palace has a lot of musical experience. We’d only played four shows and we left to go on tour. Then, we’re in Milwaukee’s Turner Hall , huge place, thinking “Man, we’ve only done four shows!” It’s not just hanging out with buddies anymore.
What sort of future do you see for Ice Palace?
A lot of work in the next few years. Tour a lot. Maybe a split record with Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s . Don’t know if it will happen, but we’re talking about recording with them. We’ve got a West Coast tour in a week and a fall tour no matter what. Then we’ll start recording another record. This is going to be a hard-working band.
Band’s favorite beer?
Oh god, I’ll just say because we’re the opener, we get the cheap beer. Mainly PBR . The other bands get the imports in their green room. We’re just happy to get the free beer.
With its rich history, do you have the romanticized view of First Ave. when you play it?
I’ve been going to see bands there since I was 15. So for me, yes. I’ve been to so many shows, being able to play there is a very happy experience. There was a point that I thought I never would.