C and S of VIOLETHOUR

One-finger synth lines, walls and layers of noise and distortion, haunting vocals and pumping beats.  That’s what I think of when I listen to VIOLETHOUR.  I won’t presume to have the background to “review” music, but I love what this duo based out of Brooklyn, NY are doing. We were able to get a little interview with them which follows (re-formatted but not edited).

AASG: How did VIOLETHOUR come to be?
VH: The inspiration for VH came when we were students at Berkeley. We wanted to create a project that was aesthetically driven and relevant to the times. We moved to New York to find others that shared a spirit of revolution…this project sort of grew out of that.

AASG: What’s the general instrumentation of the group?  There’s a lot of layers of sounds in your recordings – who plays what?
VH: The idea of composition is key to our music. We’re super enamored with symphonic music, esp. the great choral masses and requiems. If you do noise right, it can also have texture and subtlety. We write all of our songs collaboratively, and that helps blur the lines and layers. But yeah – we do digital beat & synth, and we both do the gtrs & vox live.

AASG: You recently incorporated a netbook into your live setup- can you tell me more about how it fits into your setup and why you chose it?
VH:  We write and produce our music in Logic.  For our shows, we run the tracks from a HP netbook.  It’s portable and expandable, and doesn’t have a harddrive so it’s less likely to crash. Plus it’s cheap, like yer mom.

AASG: For the gear-nerds- what are your guitar chains? (Guitars, Pedals, Amps)
VH: We have a pretty populist outlook on gear.  S. plays a black Fender Jaguar HH + Roland JC-120.  C. plays a black Gibson SG Special + Vox AC-30.  Our pedals are the standard effects: distortion, reverb, chorus, etc.

AASG:  What are some bands that inspired your music?
VH: We really admire the Knife – they have a vision that is both progressive and timeless. It gives their music a voice that speaks for the people. The Velvet Teen uses noise and digital synth in their composition, and are lyrically brilliant. Some other bands that have inspired us are Asylum Party, JAMC, etc.  We generally like cult at its best (!)

AASG: What are your plans for next and new recordings?  Any new releases on the horizon?
VH: Yes!! We’re finishing up our first EP – a darknoise reflection of society’s spectacle. Can’t wait to play the songs live! xoxo.

One last note: VIOLET currently have some of their songs available for purchase, and while we’d like to steer clear of money-mongering, this is a great band.  So if you live ‘em, please show your support!