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North London alt-indie duo BLUE VIOLET share their new single Barefoot On The Seine. They will tour with Echobelly this November and December and their new album, Faux Animaux, will be released on 24 January 2025 on Me & My Records via High Head Recordings,
Barefoot On The Seine – inspired by witnessing protests in Chicago and Europe – is a schizophrenic dispatch from the edges of a Parisian riot: its verses lost in graceful Gallic romance; its choruses all grunge rock eruptions; its whole a righteous call to arms in support of essential personal freedoms.
Singer Sarah McGrigor says: “It’s a protest song that promotes the message that love conquers all. It is about freedom; the freedom to make the world you want to live in a reality. The freedom to make choices about how you wish to live your life – who you are, who you want to be, what clothes you want to wear – and, most importantly, that no one has the right to tell you otherwise, It’s a kick back at anyone who thinks it is their right to try and make anyone feel small or insignificant.”
Guitarist Sam Gotley adds: “We weren’t going to release this song as a single, but in the midst of so much political unrest this year when many feel so vulnerable, it felt like this song might speak to people and remind them that love and acceptance is always the way forward.”
In April Blue Violet – Blue for their melancholic element; Violet for the vividness – shared lead single Boogie Shoes, a grainy glam stomp aimed midway between Queens Of The Stone Age and St Vincent. This was followed by Imagine Me – amid dark 80s electro-rock tones akin to a more seductive Depeche Mode, the track portrays a lustful temptress (groupie, cougar, stalker or lovelorn loner) frustrated that the sexual encounter she so meticulously plots is over in a flash. The most recent single Survival is a gentle paean chanelling Metric, Mazzy Star, Cigarettes After Sex and Julee Cruise.
On the Faux Animaux album, Blue Violet continue their exploration of rich electronic avenues inspired by Anna Calvi, St Vincent, Radiohead, Bowie and Twin Peaks. With their songwriting as sublime as ever, they’re becoming one of the most enthralling underground propositions of the age.
Recorded in J&J Studios in Bristol with Bat For Lashes and Hannah Peel mixer and producer TJ Allen, Faux Animaux is a unified and sophisticated update of modern British alt-pop, drifting from sizzling space disco to stunning, cinematic vistas.
Blue Violet returned to the live stage in March – when they also shared one off single Human After All – to join The Gaslight Anthem during various shows at London Roundhouse but, as the duo have shown festival crowds this summer, Faux Animaux is set to usher in their own glory days. It’s a stunning amalgam of modernism and melody that spotlights not just failings of humankind but also those of its leaders.
As Sam says: “The fake animals could be seen as the powers that be, leading us down paths that result in us ignoring our more natural instincts, often making decisions without our permission.”
Quietly, a beast awakens.
FAUX ANIMAUX | TRACK LISTING
- Sweet Success
- Imagine Me
- Survival
- Talking To You
- The Librarian
- Cold Hearts
- Boogie Shoes
- Fire
- Teeth Out
- Barefoot On The Seine
- Faux Animaux
Preorder the album here
