Hold on to your soul, the first ladies of Minimal Synth, Violet Tremors, are about to drop their début album, the awesomely titled ‘Time Is The Traitor’.

The opening track ‘Between Us’ is well chosen, atmospheric and harsh, the track taken no prisoners and utilises vocal processing in a way that, like much of VT’s tracks, makes me think of early Cabaret Voltaire. The combination of Sparse beats, early EBM and Daniel Miller style synth work and haunting pads with vocals that are not quite human sets the listen up well for the rest of the album. Jessica White & Lorene Simpson do a good job of authentically recreating the early days of the Futurists and the sonic experimentation that cantered around Sheffield and Mute Records. The record swings, at times, from harsh and aggressive, as with the Industrial ‘Concentrate’ to the ice cold machine beats of the likes of ‘Caution’ to almost warm, enveloping tracks like ‘Time Dissolver’. Throughout, though, the girls display a keen ear for both melody and texture, and a production skill that suites their sound perfectly. What’s surprising though, is that it’s not all doom and gloom. That is to say that although the record is as fine an example of Minimal Synth as you could ever care for, there is little of the irritating pretension so often heaped onto Minimal Synth records, there’s actually a lot that would kill on any New Romantic dancefloor. I guess what I’m saying is that there is just as much ‘80’s in this album as there is Minimal Synth, and Violet Tremors passion for their sound and their influences shines through.

♫ Violet Tremors – Caution

♫ Violet Tremors – Violet Trance

♫ Violet Tremors – Future Love

‘Time Is The Traitor’ is released 1st December.

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