Violets – Violets EP

Formed from the twitching but still vibrant vital organs of Naked Raygun, The Methadones and Blood People, Chicago’s Violets are a kind of supergroup of unlikely allies forged into one beautiful life force. Unlike Rachel’s beef trifle, Violets are not a sweet n savoury mess concocted from unlikely ingredients. In fact, your best approach to the Violets EP is to leave the personnel’s provenance in these iconic bands way behind and come to it with fresh ears.

Opening track The Tower blends a raucous midtempo rock vibe with a measured Pixiesesque dynamism. The guitars churn and grind, chug and crash behind a heartfelt rasp of a vocal that’s full of emotion. Devotion picks up the pace and is a thundering grunge rollercoaster that swoops and swerves around the track, full of a frantic angry energy. Staring At The Ceiling is a bass-driven masterpiece, weaving a tapestry of fuzzed-out guitars around a vocal thread that drips with a passionate regret. Eras is the closing track and it’s a careening belter of a song based on a sinister insistent and now familiar two-chord motif that is dripping with menace, underscored with an insistent motorik beat and haunted soloing. This train ain’t stopping until it runs into the buffers in one huge fuzzed-out crescendo.

This EP was  engineered and produced by Dan Precision of 88 Fingers Louie at Bombshelter Studios. “Dan brought these songs to a place I didn’t expect,” says guitarist Simon Lamb. “He instantly understood the sound of the band … possibly even before we did.“

Violets are Aly Jados – vocals, guitar, Bill Stephens – guitar, Simon Lamb – guitar, Fritz Doreza – bass, vocals, and Michael Soucy – drums and they reek of whiskey, cigarettes and a kind of desperate and angry yearning. Forget the bands they used to be in because this isn’t anything like them. This is something else, full of a binding chemistry, rock sensibility, a dash of pop glitter and some industrial punk nihilism. All in all, this is an exciting and promising introduction from a band overburdened with talent and bound with a chemistry that seeps out of every molecule of this EP. Big things surely beckon.

I know it’s only rock n roll but I like it, like it, yes I do.

Violet‘s self titled debut EP is available through Bandcamp and streaming platforms