Los Angeles-based alt-rock act Fox Violet releases a brand-new album, entitled Prisms, an album blending ethereal colors with dark pop-rock and plush vocals.
Talking about the album, guitarist/vocalist Thea Stevenson shares, “‘Prisms’ examines the shifting perspective of imploding relationships. It’s as much about my relationships with others as it is about the relationship I have with myself. I feel like I am on a train, with each stop a new deeply impactful relationship, leading way back into childhood. It’s not just romantic relationships either, it’s parental, it’s friendships. On another level it is also about the fragile human connection we have with our planet, and how we are at the core both hurting but living and connected.”
As Fox Violet’s primary songwriter, Thea Stevenson cites influences such as Radiohead, Nirvana, Lana Del Rey, Leonard Cohen, and Pink Floyd, while her lyrics probe relationships, apathy, heartbreak, longing, and the cultural idea of fairy tales.
Stevenson told LA Weekly, “Fox Violet exists because we were all looking for a new way to create music without any kind of boundaries, one that incorporated a vision of no-holds-back music where we could be instrumentally wild and lyrically as questioning and unapologetic as we wanted. We live in a dark time, and we live in a weird city, we don’t want to shy away from that. FV is as much about dissonance as it is resonance. We exist for opposites.”
Encompassing nine tracks, entry points on the album include “Torn,” opening on deep, dark tones topped by Stevenson’s deliciously evocative voice, rife with exotic inflections and urgent timbres. Shadowy and potent, the harmonics push out surging black layers of sound, at once low-slung yet enveloping.
Rippling with dream-pop shimmers, “Something Like Love” glistens with oscillating savors atop a rumbling rhythm as Stevenson’s voice imbues the lyrics with emotional intensity. A personal favorite, “We Hurt” merges hints of Blondie with jangly guitars and luminous surfaces.
“Floating Out Of Your Skin” rolls out on echoing rounded drums as glittering, cutting guitars inject the tune with glossy tension. While “Long Way Down” travels on deep, murky hues shifting to shiny colors. The drums on this song are wonderful, tight, and resounding, driving the harmonics along as Stevenson struts her crème de la crème voice.
Marvelously wrought, Prisms amalgamates spectral dream-pop with haunting electro-rock savors, all capped by the sumptuous voice of Thea Stevenson.
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