Violet Vector and the Lovely Lovelies
EP II
Colorwheel, 2009
Remember years ago when the music critics were saying that Chapel Hill could be the next Seattle? Yeah, that was funny. I don't think that we could even touch Athens or Denver at this point and we're light years behind Austin, Portland and Brooklyn. Not to say that we don't have great bands or anything, we have a few. But I feel like we're kind of the underachievers. There's no lack of talent here in the Triangle, it just doesn't make it out. It's like another infamous geographical triangle. Music just can't escape it.
VV (as I will call them from now on because their name is way too long) was a good band. I usually loathe any kind of 60's throwback music, but this is more 60's pop-inspired, so it's okay.
It's sugary and sweet and some of the songs sound like they could play in Saturday morning cartoons. You know, the one's from the seventies, like Josie and the Pussycats or Jabberjaw (any band who's drummer is a Great White Shark is gonna shred). What I'm trying to say, in a positive way and failing at, is that this doesn't sound like a whole lot of other stuff coming from our area right now, which is a very good thing. I remember hearing "Grass Is Growing" on our local college radio station last year and thinking, "Hmm. That's pretty good." That doesn't happen very often.
They had their own sound and they stuck to it. There are too many indie bands these days that sound alike. Hell, there are too many indie bands in general. Anyone with a computer and a microphone can call themselves a band. But that's an article for a later time.
I wouldn't say that this is my type of music, but I think that VV were what Chapel Hill needed. Their sound immediately separated them from the legions of other bands out there sucking up and down Franklin Street. They came with originality that brought some cred back to Tobacco Road. I would have liked to have seen this band evolve more, because I heard their unreleased material was actually their best. But oh well.