Spotlight On... Majesty Palm

Since releasing their debut single as Majesty Palm back in 2022, Olivia McCosh and Cameron Robertson have been on a steady upward trajectory. At the end of 2023 the Glasgow pair were crowned Best Newcomer at the Scottish Alternative Music Awards, before going on to be shortlisted in early 2024 for the BBC Introducing Scottish Act of the Year. Their sound is an intoxicating blend of dreampop, hazy electronica and big pop with undeniably infectious grooves that could be easily mistaken for the latest banger from Dua Lipa.

In a short career, Majesty Palm have already headlined King Tut’s and played the likes of TRNSMT in Glasgow, so with their exceptional debut EP, Learning to Swim, less than a week old, we catch up with McCosh and Robertson to find out more.

First of all, how did the two of you meet and what sparked that initial foray into making music together?
McCosh: We met kind of through mutual pals really, Cameron had heard a song I had on Spotify with another band and just messaged me to ask if I wanted to sing on some demos he had and we just met up and collaborated on one of them. We continued to work together after that and then realised we wanted to start the band when we wrote a song called Peace Of Mind which ended up being our first single. I think when we made that song we realised pretty quickly we had a similar vision with what we wanted to achieve creatively, and both share so many of the same influences that it made a lot of sense to work together as a band rather than collaborating as two individual artists

Who/what would you say inspires your sound, and how do you think things have changed/evolved, if at all, since that first release?
Robertson: I’d say there’s a lot of different things that inspire our sound and we consciously try to take influence from different places on each song we make. We both love bands and sounds from the 80s and often pull inspiration from bands like The Blue Nile and Tears For Fears as well as current pop artists like Olivia Dean and Dua Lipa. I’ve always described our music as blending pop, funk and new wave together and with the influences that we take from, I feel that shows naturally. 

Since releasing Peace Of Mind in 2022 our sound has evolved but still remains true to our first few songs. When we started releasing and recording our initial few songs we hadn’t played live yet at that point. I feel with playing the shows and stages we have so far, that in itself has helped develop our sound over time as we are more certain with what kind of band and artists we want to be. 

You released your debut EP, Learning to Swim, last week – what can you tell us about the EP? Is there a theme that connects the songs from a lyrical point of view? And what was the process like for writing, arranging and recording the songs?
McCosh: The EP is made up of five songs, a couple that we’ve had from the very beginning of the band and some newer ones. The songs are very much pop at their core but we tried to push ourselves and mix different influences, sounds and genres and make something we feel is unique to us.

In terms of the lyrical content, I think a lot of what I write about is really just trying to figure out how to navigate the things that life inevitably throws at you sometimes, whether that be in friendships, relationships or just general struggles that we all go through from time to time. Specifically how confusing that can be when you’re in your 20s and all of a sudden you’re an adult and sometimes it can feel like you’ve been kind of chucked in at the deep end a wee bit, which is why I think the name Learning To Swim for the EP ties everything together because it encapsulates that idea of trying to navigate life and learning how to find your feet. 

Our process usually starts with Cameron, he’ll send me maybe a verse and a chorus of an instrumental he’s produced and I’ll try to write lyrics and a vocal melody on top of that and we both just build it from there, tweaking certain sections as we go along until we find something that feels right for us both. 

The EP feels so polished and you already sound like a fully realised pop act. It’s wild to think of all that you’ve achieved before releasing your debut EP – what have the past few years been like for you, winning awards, headlining King Tut’s, playing TRNSMT etc?
Robertson: Ahh, thanks so much! It’s been incredible to be honest. We’ve already ticked off a lot of things I never really thought I’d be able to do musically and I think with each gig or show it just makes you want the next thing even more.

Playing the Barrowlands as part of Tenement Trail in 2024 will always stick in my memory as a highlight – wish we could replay it all over again! I think we just take each thing as it comes and don’t have too many expectations. We just enjoy writing music together and seeing where that takes us.

It’s nice to see that despite playing these bigger stages, that you launched your EP with a more intimate show in a space like Glasgow's The Alchemy Experiment. What was your decision to launch the EP there and how did it go?
McCosh: We wanted to do something slightly different for the EP launch, something that felt a bit more intimate that would allow us to celebrate the EP in a more personal way. The event couldn’t have went better, I think performing the launch in a smaller, intimate space allowed us to really see people’s live reactions to the music which was really fun for us. It’s always nice for us to strip the songs back as well, it’s different from our usual gigs and allows us to show a different side of the band. 

With the EP now out, it’s onwards and upwards we’re sure – what’s next for Majesty Palm?
Robertson: We’ve got a few festivals in the summer that we’re looking forward to and we’re also in the midst of planning a few shows through the UK towards the end of the year. Release-wise we’re taking a break and focusing on writing a lot of tracks that we’ve had floating in the background for the past while so that’s exciting – I feel like the early demos are shaping up to be some of the best music we’ve done to date. All in all it’s an exciting time and we’re just so grateful for all the support from everyone up till now!

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Learning to Swim is out now

Follow Majesty Palm on Instagram @majestypalmband