With their blend of 90s grunge and sugary Brit-pop, I was so excited with Violet that I introduced them to you twice! Finally emerging with their debut EP ‘Feels Like Heaven’ – it marks a confident and powerful statement of intent for the talented quintet.
‘Sometimes’ opens the EP with quirky basslines and a voice that takes you back to the heyday of Britpop. Whilst vocally Violet will make you reminisce about Blur and Supergrass with its wideboy twang, the rock is harder. Whilst the opener takes cues from The Cure, ‘Pure Blue’ is much more a grunge anthem. The heavy chords, the echoing guitar solo powering through with synth undertones – it all explodes into a glorious finale. It’s my favourite track of the band to date.
‘At Least I’ll Say I Tried’ returns to their blissed-out guitar stylings of the opener. Reverb is a character with Violet and they use it in different ways. With earlier tracks its to create scope but here it creates emptiness and the thick atmospheric synth drones just add to that. Returning to the power chord riffs to close out with ‘Shiver’ – this is the radio-friendly track that I recommend to start with. It distils all the character of Violet down into one track. The bliss-reverb, clever synth works, thick bass, fluid drum loops and rowdy voice. It hints at the hidden psychedelic tones often permeating under the surface but declares them with some catchy guitar riffs towards the end.
‘Feels Like Heaven’ is an excellent debut and shows me that I’d have liked Britpop in the 90s much more if they were just a bit heavier. By blurring the lines between Britpop and grunge (with a splash of shoegaze pedal work too), both camps will find a lot of love with Violet.
Recommended track: Shiver
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Violet - Feels Like Heaven
