Ice Palace

In 2009, Ice Palace played nearly one hundred shows. The Minneapolis band lead by Adam Sorensen surged with snowballing momentum through three US tours supporting bands such as Cloud Cult, Margot, and the Nuclear So and So’s, and Say Hi.

They recorded a second Daytrotter session and attracted an ever-expanding local fan base opening for nationally renowned artists such as Jason Lytle (Grandaddy), Wheat, Maps and Atlases, and Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin. Their second album, Wonder Subtly Crushing Us, was released on Cloud Cult’s Earthology label and received praise across the blogosphere by RCRD LBL, Magnet Magazine, Three Imaginary Girls, City Pages, and many others.

"Ice Palace’s slower numbers have a literate dreaminess….textured, dense, yet articulate guitars; casual, almost conversational singing; and interesting rhythmic/tonal shifts…Definitely a band to watch."—The Village Voice

On the heels of this whirlwind year, Sorensen abruptly detoured from the road he’d been traveling with Ice Palace. He uprooted his family to live on the edge of a mile high national forest in Prescott Arizona - two miles from their mailbox, with chickens, a windmill pumping their water and a view that went forever. After the continual flurry of line-up changes and hard traveling, the silence of the Arizona high desert felt like heaven.

A short hiatus unfolded into a handful of cloistered years as Sorensen continued to write songs in relative isolation. Though he never stopped making music, the fathomless quiet of the desert had penetrated him, and he knew that his music needed to take a different shape than in the past. The rock and roll lifestyle no longer held his interest and he wanted his music to reflect a new maturity and peace.

Returning to Minneapolis, the home of his old band after six years of seclusion, Sorensen contacted Brian Tighe (The Starfolk, The Owls, The Hang Ups), whose production and arrangement work he deeply admired. After hearing Sorensen’s demos, Tighe agreed to produce Ice Palace’s long-awaited third album, and soon his wife Allison LaBonne (The Owls, The Starfolk) was enlisted for vocals, piano, and percussion. The collaboration between the three brimmed with an uncanny fluidity, and they patiently set about sculpting the album’s sonic backdrops which ebb and flow between a minimalism and a lushness supportive of Sorensen’s engaging lyrics and penetrating voice.

Sorensen is fiercely proud of the culmination of the unhurried efforts which kept them lingering among the songs for three years, infusing them with life and a quiet beauty that feel more true to Sorensen musically than he has ever experienced. How I Came to Win the War is poised for October 2018 release on Minneapolis label Korda Records. Sorensen has recruited some of his favorite players to support it live, including Allison LaBonne on vocals and keys, Casey Virock (Porcupine, Carousel Swan) on guitar and vocals, Ian Prince (Porcupine) on guitar, Jared Miller on bass, and Emily Ruiz (Jim Ruiz Set, Walker Kong) on drums.