Every once in a while, music as we know it steps out to stretch its legs, maybe light up a smoke, and simply exist. No beat, no meter, no three-chord rock — just a ringing in the ears after all the racket has been silenced.
That’s what experimental group Dead Violets manages to capture, a disquieting, eerie, industrial hum that’s beautiful in its simplicity. The self-proclaimed “drone-core juggernaut” pulls its sound from three daring artists who each bring a dark, almost primal vibe to the show.
Dead Violets
Silver Spring vocalist Bethany Moore uses her poetry to explore human despair and emotion. In the single “Banish”, Moore slinks through a deliciously dark composition, wearing nothing but a digitized veil.
DC-based composer J. Surak spins that musical thread using “found objects” — answering-machine cassettes, busted CDs, acoustic instruments, and old record players rigged with foil. And Swede Thomas Ekelund performs a “sonic exorcism”, mashing sounds from his habitat with the last gasps of vinyl noise. (His words, not mine.)
Sample the single “Banish” from their record label’s site, or catch some instrumental buzzing on the group’s website. For the full dose, catch Dead Violets live Sunday at 7:00 p.m. at the Pyramid Atlantic Arts Center (8230 Georgia Ave). Five bucks gets you through the door.
Photos courtesy of Flickr user Intangible Arts.
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I haven’t heard of Dead Violets before, but I like their…well, “music” may not be the right word here…sonic creations. It’s the kind of stuff that would go well while reading some H.P. Lovecraft.
Jennifer, thank you so much for writing this. Dead Violets is by the far the coolest thing to come out of Silver Spring since Ben Stein! Dead Violets in 2009, big things are coming!
hmm… A Ben Stein/Dead Violets live improv collaboration might be something…