I GOT A VIOLET – Backwash

You know when you hear a really good punk or rock album and you just want to drink heavily, drive fast, and generally act irresponsible? It was the effect that made Arctic Monkeys debut album a must-own — and here on their debut, Italian garage rock outfit I Got A Violet proves they are capable of a similar sound.

Songs like “Priest Pube,” “Swing Swang,” and the album-closer “Junky’s Elevator” have a wonderful crazed energy that brought to my mind the likes of Happy Mondays and The Buzzcocks. My first time listening to this album, I liked it a lot — probably because of the strong beginning and closing track. It’s the middle — the meat of the album — where I had trouble agreeing with it, especially the second time through. There is a promise of great things to come set up by the first few tracks that is never reached until the final two.

There is some wonderful experimentation on “Ghost Ranch” and “Candy Floss,” both of these tracks being built as bizarre alt-rock soundscapes instead of the catchy two-and-a-half-minute numbers that populate the rest of Backwash. As the album works its way towards the end, the band proves they are more than capable of tearing it up instrumentally — just listen to the “Girls R Cats,” the longest track at a little over four minutes. The end breaks down to a vicious guitar solo that sounds both reckless and perfected. And that is maybe where my biggest issue with the album comes from — there is so much promise without as much delivery. The middle of the album is full of filler-tracks that lose the initial energy — and with it your interest.

When I Got A Violet succeed, they do so with flying colors. Perhaps this works against them, because I feel Backwash is an album with a couple great tracks, but it is not in its entirety a great album. However, for a debut, it’s a good start.

(New Model Label, di Govind Khurana, Via Buonporto 11, 44100 Ferrara, Italy)