I lived in a world detached from the world of Violet Swells. Psychedelia was a dead art in my Wisconsin town, a musical form surviving only in the Doors and Beatles CDs we’d snag from five-dollar bins and the local, FM-heavy record store. Bands like the Flaming Lips and Animal Collective were estranged by our world; I didn’t even hear my first Tame Impala record until two years into college.
But here we are, years removed from those sheltered days, and I’m listening to another gang of Australian rockers with a neo-Wilsonian penchant for psychedelic pop. At this point, the trend is obvious; psychedelic rock is very much alive and even championed in the mainstream. (Remember when Miley Cyrus released a psych pop album earlier this year? Me neither!) Two years ago, Violet Swells may have sounded like a blast-from-the-past to my ears. Now they’re folded in with the dozens of other psych bands from under the Commonwealth — can a band like Violet Swells even stand out?
I won’t even try to argue that one right now. All I do know is that “Gravity Wins Again” is damned infectious, with its monotonously dazed hook dribbled over those crunched guitars and dense synthesizers. There are breaks where Violet Swells spaces out into a disorienting trance. There are moments where maybe three different melodies compete at once. There’s a finale that actually prances through its acid wash synths. It’s downright delectable with its lush structure, psych rock ubiquity and all.