Artist: Palma Violets
Label: Rough Trade Records
Released: 2013
Running time: 40:42
Rating: 3.9/5
The history of popular music is no different from the past of any other art, pursuit, craft or industry. Just like the rest, music’s past is split into several eras or cycles that keep coming back to the fore in a slightly redefined and recycled form, and they’re the building blocks of contemporary musical expression. In the ”land of the Beatles, Stones, Floyds and Clashes”, England, the sound of the guitar is especially evergreen, while psychedelia and punk’s bite and energy play their part too. And all of that is embodied by today’s subjects, the youngsters of Palma Violets.
Ever since losing the Beatles, England has been on the hunt for their replacements. In the last decade or two, that’s only gotten worse. Every couple of years, bands pop up that are supposed to save, refresh and reshape guitar music. The infamous British (yellow) press is especially to blame, with its endless media inflating that all too often gives a completely wrong impression. Most of the time these media stories are just empty chatter, and only rarely is all the pomp justified. But then there are moments when the truth lies somewhere in the middle. There are bands with a certain musical potential who lack the experience they badly need (and cover for it with clichés). There are bands who are fascinating live but whose studio output lacks a story and consistency. There are bands who have most of what it takes to make it, but their time hasn’t come yet. And all of that is embodied by today’s subjects, the youngsters of Palma Violets.
The story of Palma Violets began with general euphoria before the band had even blown out the first candle on the cake. The band formed in September 2011, after the members had spent quite a few years bumping into each other at the famous English Reading festival. The lads were shot into the very orbit of public interest by their late-summer London indie anthem ”Best Of Friends” and by hot, energetic, charismatic shows that stirred up nostalgia and a craving for the golden days of The Libertines. The peak of the ”hype” came in early December, when the aforementioned track was declared the best song of 2012 by NME. The band had only two songs out in total, and one of the two was already the best of the year, and according to the English bible of indie rock at that (not to mention the musical competition of 2012 … ). Even before that, they’d been picked by the national broadcaster as finalists in the BBC’s music forecast for 2013 (BBC Sound of 2013), and mentioned and praised on countless blogs across Britain and the world. They were also ”booked” (together with Miles Kane, Django Django and Peace) for NME’s February tour (2013), which is always greeted with wide interest on the Island and not infrequently points to the young protagonists of the coming year. You could quickly wrap it up with ”New stars were born”, but it wasn’t (and isn’t) that simple. Not just because a single can only count as a success in the world of ”reality shows and idols”, but also because there were still three months to go until the debut’s release.
The band from central London (Lambeth), made up of Sam Fryer on guitar and vocals, Alexander ”Chilli” Jensson on bass and vocals, Pete Mayhew on keyboards and Will Doyle on drums, grew up on the music of the indie champions of the new millennium: The Strokes, The Libertines and Arctic Monkeys. There’s one more name that ties them to those bands: they were taken under the wing of Rough Trade Records. The symbol of indie labels. The label that ”found” indie as we know it today with The Smiths in the eighties, the label that knows how to make retro patterns modern, the kind that doesn’t follow trends but paves the way for them. Palma Violets were thus surrounded by eyes from all sides, from more alternative circles as well as the mainstream public.
I admit, I was pretty skeptical about the band at first. ”Best Of Friends” blew me away, of course, but all the media pomp, the video for ”Last Of The Summer Wine” and a few early demos put me off more than they pulled me in. Given what I’d heard and seen, I approached the album with mixed feelings, and the first listen left me quite disappointed. By the third listen the mood had already shifted – a cheerfulness started washing over me. Even though everyone would’ve loved to hear another track or two in the style of ”Best of Friends”, the misleading promo marketing ended up working this time. It showed me a band that was maybe discovered too soon, but has the potential to leave a mark on the world guitar scene down the road. The ”hype” was justified, but caused by the wrong qualities of the band. This isn’t just another instant British ”phenomenon” or ”one-hit-wonder”, but a full-blooded alternative band that carries the burden of being a descendant of the bands mentioned in the first paragraph very decently. Palma Violets owe a lot to their influences, but which young band doesn’t carry that burden? The genes of the Clash, the Doors, Cave, the Velvet Underground, the Libertines and so on run through their blood, and that’s before I even start listing the more specific psychedelic and garage influences. They impress with genuine rocker instincts and youthful fervor. On the other hand, the album 180 (named after their (recording) studio – hangout) lacks consistency, since almost every track is marked by 30- or 40-second (repeating) inserts, while the rest of the songs are filled with classic cliché ”fillers”. You can tell too little time passed between the band’s formation and the record’s final shape today. That’s especially evident in the lyrics. They’re pretty meager and in places downright silly. That’s where the band has the most work ahead. Even though producer Steve Mackey (Pulp’s bassist) did a great job capturing the carefree, starry-eyed impulse, he couldn’t single-handedly change the occasionally superficial basic sonic structures and lyrics. Still, the band is slowly building its own (noble) ”vintage” aesthetic, where gothic garage punk meets the psychedelic depths of ambient soundscapes. Those are mostly down to the excellent keyboardist Pete Mayhew, the band’s main protagonist on the album, while live the real euphoria comes from frontmen Chilli and Sam. Their stage romanticism reminds us of the one from ten years ago, when Pete Doherty and Carl Barat (The Libertines) played the leading roles.
The sound is very distinctive; for example, the jangle of the guitar interweaves wonderfully with the (thundering) bass line and organ without losing its original shine and purpose. That shows nicely already on the opener (the one mentioned many times above), ”Best Of Friends”. A song that doesn’t reinvent anything, but on the other hand is a perfect guitar-pop gem. Definitely one of the best in the last few years. As drummer Will pointed out in one interview: you get the feeling this is for real, that you’ve got three minutes of life left and you’re going to try to make the most of them and enjoy them. The song is steeped in magical energy, dramatic build-up and an explosive mix that, at the break at 2:45, tips over into one single orgasmic crash. Probably one of the most epic songs ever written about the ”friend zone”. A song that will remain the zeitgeist of our days (even if everything else fades), and a song that would surely overshadow the rest of the album if the other tracks were just copies of it or variations on it. We’d quickly have a ”one-hit-wonder” and yet another of those British ”phenomena” mentioned above.
The remaining ten or eleven tracks not only offer a decent follow-up, but gain meaning with every relisten and take us on a peculiar psychedelic trip that the punk pulse in between keeps grounding. The garage duo made up of the seventh and eighth tracks on 180 stands out especially here. ”Tom The Drum” and ”Johnny Bagga’ Donits” are marked by raw, unpolished, smashing punk that, on the latter, turns into a proper pub (and hooligan) ”sing-along”. Completely different, more melancholic moods are conjured up by the springlike ”Last Of The Summer Wine”, ”Three Stars” (a song of longing and memories, sadness, loss and pain), the romantically nostalgic ”I Found Love” and the gentle, ”Beatles-esque” ”All The Garden Birds”. The last one in particular is a real little gem on the record. It recalls late-summer ”chilled” evenings, when we gaze one last time that day at the clear blue sky while the crickets paint the sunset for us. While ”Rattlesnake Highway” and ”Step Up For The Cool Cats” send us into a psychedelic trance, ”Chicken Dippers”, with the line ”your hair, your hair is on me, and you make me feel like I’m the only one”, a scream and a spiraling guitar acceleration that follows, delivers one of the best inserts on the whole album. The album is made up of too many similarly good bits and too few songs that really stand tall from start to finish. It closes with the playful, dynamic ”14”, which hides a twelfth, secret song at the end and was one of the first songs the band wrote.
To wrap up: Palma Violets serve up an album full of great moments, including (among other things) the single of the year (”Best Of Friends”) and loose, youthful charm. It could use more polish, and we wouldn’t say no to smarter, more meaningful lyrics either. The record doesn’t come close to the heights set by the debuts of their ”genre” and island predecessors, The Libertines, Franz Ferdinand and Arctic Monkeys; but it doesn’t disappoint either. The guitars have their power back, the psychedelic flashes have their wings, and the punk edge has its charge. Next time, I’m hoping for substance to back up what I just said, and an explosion of superlatives.
Lineup
Samuel Thomas Fryer – guitar and vocals
Alexander “Chilli” Jesson – bass and vocals
Jeffrey Peter Mayhew – keyboards
William Martin Doyle – drums
Production
Steve Mackey and Rory Attwell
Tracklist
1.) Best Of Friends
2.) Step Up For The Cool Cats
3.) All The Garden Birds
4.) Rattlesnake Highway
5.) Chicken Dippers
6.) Last Of The Summer Wine
7.) Tom The Drum
8.) Johnny Bagga’ Donuts
9.) I Found Love
10.) Three Stars
11.) 14 (includes the hidden track ‘Brand New Song’)
