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Step into the Parlour . . . A Musical Review of Darling Violetta's New CD |
 ands up those of you who have heard of Darling Violetta... Quite a few. Good. Glad to hear it! For those of you who may not have heard of 'em, they are the band behind the Angel theme tune (and damn fine it is too!) With past glories like "Bathwater Flowers" and the excellent "Kill You EP", I jumped at the chance when offered the assignment to tackle the review of their latest offering "Parlour"! So... I'm loading up the CD player and off we go!
Exploring the Layers
"Over You" harks back to the "Kill you" EP era of DV and is an absolute corker! Again the chorus has an instant hook which you'll find yourself singing for days. It's a classic tale of lost love with plaintive lyrics like, "I won't get over you this time" which Cami delivers in true acid-bitter loveliness. This is my second favourite track of the album despite the distracting "biscuit tin" snare drum which is out of tune to the rest of the track. Moving swiftly onto "Jessamine" which is all gentle guitars and percussion with a very Beatles feel to it in places due to the imaginative use of the brass part's punctuation in the track. All this is perfectly complimented by soft, sweet vocals. The swirling guitars add to the 60's feel of this track, but this is in no way a criticism because, again, DV use this to their advantage and work it into their distinctive writing style. The last half of the album seems to be DV going into an almost dreamlike state. "Barbot Barbiturate" (Great title!) is a prime example. It's a nice, pretty song with plenty of musical momentum, which holds the listener's attention and builds into the gloriously dreamy Cure-like last two thirds of the song. Unfortunately upon hitting full power at the end of the song, Cami's vocal distorts as it's recorded. This is a shame because it's a straightforward matter to simply back off the mic when needed and re-record the line. "Say You Love Me" has a hint of melancholy jazz as it's backed with an interestingly processed full bass sound before once again nodding to a 60's influence in the chorus. "Candy Jones" is a smashing tune - again there's a U2 feel to the bluesy guitar. This is DV rocking out and it's very good too! It's a hills-and-valleys roller coaster ride of a track and damn good fun. The only bit I don't like is Cami occasional Banshee-style yelping and screaming which doesn't work. Track 12 is another short instrumental, and shows off just how good DV are at writing musical pieces, which if fleshed out would be perfect for film or TV. Good, well-crafted interesting stuff. "Second Skin" is gorgeous. Jymm Thomas' delicate guitar counterpoint to the vocals is a real treat. I'm not sure the male semi-spoken counterpart to Cami's sung vocal entirely works though. However, I can see the idea behind it is interesting. Speaking of vocals, this song is a good example of Cami's vocal abilities which ranges from her softly-gentle approach, to full-on power-house via an almost R&B angle. "Benediction" has some interesting guitar work on it, but is the weakest track on the album. The verses and chorus are so vastly different that the song could - to some ears - sound disjointed. Moving on, Track 15 is another short 10 second musical collage of spoken gibberish and sound. I like these experimental "intervals" a lot. It works as a bit of attractive punctuation in between songs.
"Star Shoes (Love Is Everything)"The last track is again Darling Violetta on top form but with again a nod to the Beatles with the use of the string arrangement. "Love is everything" proves that they are not all doom-and-gloom! This tune is a pleasant head-nodding piece and a quite beautiful to listen to! (Pardon me if I've gone soppy!) A fitting end to a great album. Overall this is a highly interesting album, which does require some work on the part the listener, but is well worth it for those prepared to think about what they are listening to and not just take the album at face value. That is one of Darling Violetta's strengths - they make you listen in a way you may not normally choose to listen to music. Their music has layers which need several listenings to fully appreciate, so each time you listen to it, you will hear something new. That is the difference between a bog-standard, run-of-the-mill album and one of true musical talent. In a time when most music is "formulaic," it's refreshing to hear carefully created pieces of music written by real musicians and not a committee of songwriters chosen by the producer and/or record label. The only negative comments I would have is that the whole sound needs to be tightened up considerably. While it's nice to hear live drums with a free and lively sound, a weighty dollop of compression to reign in the whole sound would hugely add much needed "punch" to the overall feel of the album. In some places Cami's vocal is far to high up in the mix for comfort and on a couple of occasions Cami struggles to pitch to a couple of screamed high notes - these sound to me as if they are at the very top of her vocal range and so should be avoided. Her vocal also distorts in a couple of places as well. That said, once again Darling Violetta manage to produce an album which is totally different in style and delivery to 99% of what's out there on the music scene while not being so "out there" that their music is unobtainable to the intelligent listener. If you like your music to be interesting then this album comes highly recommended despite some minor flaws. Written by CoA Contributing Writer, Linda Clinker
CityofAngel would like to thank all the members of Darling Violetta
especially Cami, Steve and Jymm for the advance
on Parlour and all the rawkin' fun times! If you have any comments for CityofAngel.com regarding this 'Happenings' feature, we would love to hear from you. Just email us at: comments@CityofAngel.com |
