Monday, February 20, 2006

Flowers for the Queen

Darling Violetta – Parlour

In a true fit of geekery I ordered this album from Amazon purely based on the fact that they did the theme music for Angel. Taking into account Joss Whedon's unimpressive taste in music made these guys a bit of a gamble, but fortunately they turned out to be not too bad.

More than anything else Darling Violetta remind me of the likes of 12 Rounds and Collide, making slightly heavier than average rock/electronica with a female vocalist, but these guys lean a lot closer to the rock side of the divide than the other bands (although I don't rate Darling Violetta nearly as highly as either of them).

When they put a bit of crunch on their guitars and rock out they're pretty good. The opening track 'A Smaller God' is quite easily the standout on the album. When they go poppier it tends to be much less interesting, for example the last track 'Star Shoes (Love Is Everything)' is as cheesy as the title implies. I also have to admit that their vocalist, while competent, has a voice that doesn't do much for me. She sounds a bit like Claudia Sarne of 12 Rounds but without the edge.

The best parts of the album are for me the small interludes scattered between songs. They range from being straight up instrumental segues to context free sample collages to blasts of abstract jazz noise.

While I don't regret buying it I don't think I'll be getting any more of their albums. My money would be better spent on 12 Rounds' back catalogue.

2 comments:

fairy princess said...

I am always amazed at how much you know about music.

Jon said...

It's so nice when someone notices!