★★★☆☆
Three Stars
No doubt Palma Violets are soon to be widely hailed as the next big thing, the ‘saviours of rock n’ roll’ here to save us all from the mere mortals that have been clogging the system for far too long, with their first offering: 180.
Playing secret gigs at an exclusive venue in South London and releasing a free preview of their forthcoming album seems to tie in with the modern dynamic of an indie ‘guitar band’, that NME claimed “it’s time to get very excited about” in May last year. However, all these biblical claims and acts of ‘indieness’ point to exactly what is wrong with the whole affair. It’s nothing new.
Introducing the album, ‘Best of Friends’ attempts to set an epic scene that is never quite met. The single, released last year, is easily comparable to anything from The Vaccines’ back catalogue with lazy lyrics such ‘I wanna be your best friend, I don’t want you to be my girl’ telling a clichéd love story with an equally clichéd sound that loosely resembles Babyshambles’ Down in Albion but with a slightly less sincere result. Tracks such as ‘Set up for the Cool Cats’ and ‘Last of the Summer Wine’ start with a more convincing atmospheric backdrop which is reminiscent of late ’60s psychedelic rock.
The Violets have been compared to a number of bands from this period and genre, and with good reason: the vocals on ‘Cool Cats’ could easily be those of Jim Morrison and the whole album has an air of the psychedelic to it with its loose grooves and echo-laden distorted riffs. With various easily made comparisons to Joy Division, Velvet Underground and other such indie royalty, reinforced by a fan club including Nick Cave and Bernard Cave (both spotted at a recent gig at Glasgow’s King Tut’s) Palma Violets’ prospects look promising. Pulp’s Steve Mackey at the head of production duties adds yet another level of legitimacy to what is, to all intents and purposes, a very listenable album by a band that I would definitely enjoy live. The problem is that it’s just all been done before, and smacks of a tried and tested formula that’s unlikely to stand the test of time.
