DARLING VIOLETTA
The Kill You EP (Opaline Records)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale

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In the process of growing from an acoustic duo to a power drenched quintet, Darling Violetta has been featured in film soundtracks, garnered a coveted performing spot on Buffy The Vampire Slayer and contributed the theme music for the Buffy spin-off, Angel. More incredible than those accomplishments is the fact that they've been achieved without either a major label deal or a full-length release.

The Kill You EP is the band's second release, following up 1977's BathWaterFlowers, a self-produced, self-released EP. It's possible that they're taking the EP route in order to limit their releases to just the very best material they can create. The five new songs on TKY EP are of high enough quality to reinforce that possibility. Still, if they can do these ones this well, you've got to guess there must be a lot more coming. The sound is rooted in the amazing pipes of singer/lyricist Cami Elen and an instrumental quartet that features guitar (Jymm Thomas, Elen's partner in the acoustic duo cited above), bass, drums and cello. The cellist, Gerri Sutyak, contributes mightily to the sound and especially to the mood of the music, which sounds exactly like the kind of music you'd imagine Buffy fans falling in love with, which they have.

The five new tracks are augmented by a pair of remixes, yielding a total of about forty minutes of music. That's more than you'll find on too many "full length" releases, and you won't find forty better minutes on very many discs of any length.

Track List:

Spoiled & Rotten * Awesome * Cocoon * Cure * I Want To Kill You * Cocoon (Extended Remix) * I Want To Kill You (1st Degree Remix)

© 2000 - Shaun Dale