Listening to the first 30 seconds of Rock Island, it might surprise you that Palm never really learned to play their instruments in the classical sense. Singer-guitarists Kasra Kurt and Eve Alpert, bass player Gerasimos Livitsanos, and drummer Hugo Stanley were all more or less amateurs when they converged at New York’s Bard College circa 2011, as you’ll learn from most writing about the Philadelphia-based band. This part of Palm’s backstory has trailed them for years, perhaps because it helps explain the wayward frenzy and exuberant sprawl of their music. On their 2015 full-length debut, , and last year’s Shadow Expert EP, they’ve continually pushed themselves to evolve at an accelerated pace—it’s as if they’re aspiring toward an identity they haven’t quite found. Their second album, , shows Palm working harder than ever to unburden themselves of the influences heard on those earlier releases, from Slint and Sonic Youth to Battles and Animal Collective.