VIDEO:
MP3: “‘Acid Reign’ (Violens “In The Trees” Mix)”
MIX TAPE: Violens Summer 2010 Mix Tape
NYC band Violens premiered the first official music video from its forthcoming album, Amoral via Stereogum today, directed by Caroline Polachek of Chairlift — watch it here.
Caroline offered this comment on the video “The R&B version of “Acid Reign” is so deep (the way kids say “deep” in middle school), almost too close and lush for comfort. Jorge is from Miami, so when I heard the song, I imagined a Miami heartbreaker-alter-ego in passionate, solitary mourning. Hiding in a cheap motel as the pink sun rises over the empty cruise ships and bleached island highways, glazed and breezy in the aftermath of an unspeakable crime…”
The band also recently announced plans to release a split 7 inch with Twin Shadow via Terrible Records, as the second installment of their split 7 inch series – the first single being a split featuring CANT and Arthur Russel, pre-order it here. Violens’ contribution to the single is “Acid Reign (In The Trees mix)” a re-working of a song from their forthcoming album, which also appeared on their recent Summer Mix Tape and also the version of the song featured in this music video. The single is available digitally now and the vinyl will be available on Sept. 28. The band is has several European tour dates planned, as well as a few CMJ shows and a handful of new US dates.
Bio:
Violens summon influences as diverse as 60s psych-pop, thrash metal, and Miami freestyle. Their music channels the sophistication of Roxy Music and the no-wave roar of Sonic Youth, all within the laughing nightmare spaces of Stanley Kubrick or Nobuhiko Obayashi. The New York-based 3-piece release their highly anticipated debut album Amoral November 2nd via Brooklyn label Friendly Fire Recordings and their own imprint Static Recital.
Producer/multi-instrumentalist Jorge Elbrecht, also a member of the art company Lansing-Dreiden, formed Violens in late 2007 as an additional outlet for his songwriting. Iddo Arad (synth) and Myles Matheny (guitar) complete the vocal harmonies, and currently join Elbrecht at the core of the group’s sound. Since releasing a self-titled EP in 2008, Violens have toured the US and Europe, performing with the likes of Grizzly Bear, Bat for Lashes and Deerhunter. Now, after furthering their studio prowess with remixes (MGMT, The Very Best), runway scores (Patrik Ervell, Yigal Azrouel), and a seasonal mixtape series showcasing their influences and collaborators, Violens have completed their extraordinary debut album.
“There are plenty of records we love that present a band in a more documentary way. We can definitely imagine a future Violens record sounding like that. But making Amoral was really about the songs being animated environments for people to cruise through-like a shark pool, or touch tank. Group vocal harmonies getting dragged out to sea by reverb or eaten by flames of distortion, choreographed call & response percussion, delayed shadows under certain instruments, animal noises, etc…” -V
Blending the ambient synths of Cocteau Twins and Sisters of Mercy with blistering guitar textures evoking Crass and Minor Threat, Amoral presents psychedelic sonic collages layered with 60’s vocal harmonies. The album shifts from the impossibly jaunty optimism of opener “The Dawn Of Your Happiness Is Rising” to the baroque doom of the nightmare described in the title track:
…And as I’ve never had a strong stomach for bloodshed and gore, it was all quite terrifying…
Perhaps the most horrific dream I can remember. At the same time, there was a euphoria to it all. I recall the most vivid colors and patterns, lights and strange forms…
Amoralpulses through dream-pop crescendos (“Trance-Like Turn”), and epic washes of looping melody (“Generational Loss”). While goth-tropical recent single “Acid Reign” fits synthetic piano leads and frenzied guitars over dance bass lines and apparitional harmonies, “Violent Sensation Descends” veers from a vertiginous wash of synths into a chorus that could only have been written after overdosing on Zombies records. Self-recorded, self-produced, and self-mixed, Amoral is a collision of comfort and violence, cushion and crunch, attack and embrace. This is unforgettable music, full of possibility and unfathomable depth.
Violens’ recent “Summer Mixtape” features their recent remixes of songs by Delorean and Nite Jewel, a Marine Girls cover (“He Got The Girl”), and unique mash ups and collaborations with Washed Out and Caroline Polachek (Chairlift), alongside tracks by Bethlehem, Dead Can Dance and Chapterhouse. Also included is a remix of the Amoral track “Another Strike Restrained” by Sadguitarius (Ben Goldwasser of MGMT).
The mixtape, and recent single “Acid Reign”, are available free for download at www.violens.net.
VIOLENS
10/01 – Manchester, UK – The Ruby Lounge
10/02 – Leeds, UK – Cockpit 3
10/21 – New York, NY – Pianos (I Guess I’m Floating CMJ Party)
10/22 – New York, NY – Pianos (Force Field PR CMJ Showcase)
11/05 Chicago, IL – Schubas
11/07- Toronto, ON – Drake Hotel
11/09- Cambridge, MA – Middle East Upstairs
11/24 – London, UK – HMV Forum
11/25 – London, UK – HMV Forum
11/26 – Bristol, UK – Anson Rooms
11/27 – Birmingham, UK – HMV Institute
11/29 – Glasgow, Scotland – O2 ABC Glasgow
11/30 – Belfast, Northern Ireland – Mandela Hall
12/1 – Dublin, Ireland – The Academy
12/3 – Newcastle, UK – Northumbia University
12/4 – Leeds, UK – Leeds Met Student Union
12/5 – Nottingham, UK – Rock City
12/6 – Manchester, UK – Manchester Academy
Violens
Amoral
(Friendly Fire / Static Recital)
Street date: Nov. 2, 2010
01 The Dawn of Your Happiness Is Rising
02 Full Collision
03 Acid Reign
04 Are You Still In The Illusion?
05 It Couldn’t Be Perceived
06 Until It’s Unlit
07 Violent Sensation Descends
08 Could You Stand To Know?
09 Trance-Like Tum
10 Amoral
11 Another Strike Restrained
12 Generational Loss
Violens / Twin Shadow
Terrible Records Split 7″
(Terrible)
Street Date: Sept. 28, 2010
Violens: “Acid Reign (In The Trees Mix)”
Twin Shadow: “Savannah Howl”
Violens
Summer 2010 Mix Tape
download at: http://www.violens.net/
VIOLENS LINKS:
MySpace – http://www.myspace.com/violens
Press Materials – http://www.violens.net/mediatoolkit/