Search - The High Violets :: To Where You Are

THIS HIGH VIOLETS ALBUM IS OUTSTANDING

PETE SKAGGS | CRYSTAL LAKE, IL | 02/14/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"First of all if you do not own this CD (as well as the High Violets first record----the amazing 44 Down)---pick it up ASAP. The opening track "Sunbaby" is what guitar rock should be---JUST PURE POWER. "Love is Blinding" & "X-Tasy" are two stand out tracks that beg to be turned up. An absolute HOME RUN!!!!!!!!"

Wears it influences on its record sleeve...

M. Lohrke | Provo, UT | 03/20/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"...and in this case its not a bad thing.



too many folks have tried and failed to revive the shoegaze movement, and while i don't think for one second high violets are trying to revive shoegazing, 'to where you are' certainly takes the best of what shoegazing had to offer without ever sacrficing melody and vocal clarity in favor of atmosphere. kaitlyn ni donovan is a great vocalist, by the way. she's liz frazier without the effects, harriet wheeler turned down an octave. the band, too, are great. they seemed to have mastered the pop/rock song the same way andy chase and adam schlesinger from ivy have. they are supreme craftsmen and woman.



the album starts off with a couple of shoegazy songs straight out of 1992. 'sun baby' and 'love is blinding' smack of lush more than anyone else, but are on the whole much stronger songs than lush ever created (and i love lush). 'chinese letter' might be my favorite song on the album. it's a glorious song that might not have been out of place on the cocteau twins 'heaven or las vegas.' 'invitation' sounds like something off the sundays 'static and silence. the first curve ball comes in 'cool green,' a bundle of dancy energy complete with sleighbells at the halfway point, that while it doesn't necessarily 'fit' in with the rest of the album, is still such a joy to listen to that you're so glad it's there. it's also the most straightforward song on the album in terms of production.



having said all that however, the high violets don't sound derivitive of any of the bands mentioned. it's a solid, atmopheric, pleasant and oft-exhilirating album by a band i hope we hear a lot more from. if you visit their website [...] you can download 'sun baby,' 'love is blinding' and 'cool green.' once you've heard those songs i'm sure you'll rush out and buy the album just like i did.



"

Very uneven album with some brilliance and some disappointme

Vorthog | Ontario, Canada | 07/19/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This album is by a band which are these days being marketed as being part of the Neo-Shoegaze movement. While I agree that they definitely do have Shoegazer influences, upon buying their album I was disappointed to find that their link to Shoegaze turned out to be more tenuous than I had thought.



After hearing the utter coolness that is songs like "Sun Baby" and "Want You" and the dreamy pop perfection of "Cool Green", I felt confident that I would love this album and rushed right out and bought it. But after listening to all the songs, I was extremely disappointed to discover that this album also includes songs like "Invitation" and "To Where You Are", which rather than Shoegaze, instead would seem to belong to the kind of sickly-sweet, vomit-inducing Sarah McLaughlin/Jann Arden-esque type femme-rock that I HATE.



Although I am a bit old fashioned in my belief that rather than just downloading a few songs, people should buy entire albums in order to experience the entire work as the artists originally intended them to be heard, in this case I am left wishing that I had merely downloaded those songs that I liked, as I am left with about half an album of material that I strongly dislike.



Therefore I would advise all Shoegaze fans considering this album to listen carefully to EVERY song before making a decision. There definitely are brilliant songs on here that DO deserve to be heard. But I just wish the band had been more consistent with their musical direction, as not all songs appealed to me as a fan of distorted guitar-heavy rock/Shoegaze."