Blue Violet “Favourite Jeans”

BLUE VIOLET are back with news of a new EP, single and a spread of Scottish tour dates this Autumn (full dates included below).

Directly following their debut album ‘Late Night Calls’ (released in the Spring of 2022), the band have been busily working towards its successor in the shape of a new EP entitled: ‘Love, Hate & Forgiveness’. Confirmed for release on 21st October, the four track release will feature two acoustic reworkings of ‘Late Night Calls’ classics, plus two brand new offerings including the new single “Favourite Jeans” which is available to hear now.

While described by Blue Violet as “a continuation of themes, both sonically and lyrically, that we explored on our debut album”, the songs of the ‘Love, Hate & Forgiveness’ EP mark a distinctly different writing chapter for the duo. Whereas the songs heard on their debut album ‘Late Night Calls’ date back to a prolific month-long session in 2019 with producer Rob Ellis (Anna Calvi, Marianne Faithful, PJ Harvey) at Devon’s Middle Farm Studios; their upcoming material is a glimpse of how the pair spent the inescapable lockdown of the following year.

“For all of the chaos and hardships that Covid brought to the world it also provide ample time for people to be creative” reflects singer Sarah Gotley of the ‘Love, Hate & Forgiveness’ EP. “So although we only released our debut album in April this year we wanted to bring out some of the music that we’d been working on in that time”.

Songs of social distancing and hand-sanitizing, these are thankfully not. Instead the duo used the time as an opportunity to step away from the humdrum of the everyday and into the imaginative, character-driven worlds Blue Violet so capably envision. The material of ‘Love, Hate & Forgiveness’ EP is the first to emerge from these sessions and finds them expanding their universe.

Featured single “Favourite Jeans” is a strung-out alternative/acoustic ballad and one that broadly picks up the narrative of previous single “Rabbit Hole” (an acoustic version of which is also featured on this new EP). Yet, whereas “Rabbit Hole” captures the dilemma of someone who finds themselves estranged from their loved ones and struggling with addiction issues; “Favourite Jeans” writes-in a redemptive coda as the protagonist picks up the pieces on the long road to recovery.

“It’s about having the courage to pick yourself up after a hard time and the little things you do to find happiness again” Sarah says.

Elsewhere “Love, Hate & Forgiveness” gives the new EP its name; a brittle track that deftly captures with the obsession and desperation that a so all-consuming in the aftermath of a bitter break-up, with Sarah gracefully vocalizing the “internal turmoil that presents itself when it all goes a bit wrong”.

With echoes of the brittle acoustica of Beth Orton to the melancholia of Mazzy Star, the new material was produced by the esteemed Patrick James Pearson (who also played keys on the band’s debut album). The EP also features stripped-back, acoustic versions of “Rabbit Hole” and “Halo”, both of which were recorded live with Blue Violet’s full live band over the summer.

With plans already afoot to take their new material out on the road, Blue Violet will be hooking-up with previous touring pals Tide Lines for a coast to coast tour of Scotland from 15th September to 15th October. Hinting what to expect from the shows Sarah adds:

“We toured with Tide Lines last winter and it’s really nice of them to have us along again… We’re opening up for them acoustically as a duo and it felt like a cool idea to explore that side of things in the studio by basing a couple of recordings around the acoustic guitar rather than do another full band scale production.”

Four pared-back and poignant tracks that let Blue Violet’s songwriting partnership shine, the ‘Love, Hate & Forgiveness’ EP is released on 21st October 2022, via Me & My Records.

Blue Violet are husband and wife duo: Sam & Sarah Gotley. Previously performing under the guise Broken Bones Matilda, the pair put-in noteworthy performances at Glastonbury, Belladrum, Pub in the Park, Carfest and Wilderness festivals to name a few before regrouping to form Blue Violet. Sarah, a Scot with Parisian roots, teamed up with Sam a few years ago and between then and now the duo have lived between London and Sarah’s childhood home in Argyll, where they have been busy writing their next chapter.

After a string of sublime singles including “White Beaches”, “Poster Girl”, “Asylum” and “Rabbit Hole” (plus a few exceptional cover versions of Edwyn Collins and the Everly Brothers), Blue Violet received airplay on BBC Scotland (Billy Sloan) and BBC 6 Music (Steve Lamacq) who praised the band’s “wistful pop that creeps out of its shell in a mesmerizing way”. Featuring contributions from a cast of skilled collaborators including Rod Brakes (on lead guitar and bass duties) and Jim Barr (live member of Portishead), Blue Violet’s debut album ‘Late Night Calls’ was released in the Spring of 2022, with its songs earning praise from press titles including Gigwise, HiFi Magazine, The List Magazine, Americana UK and Guitar World Magazine who hailed its “multi-textured songs that defy easy categorization… [Late Night Calls] plays out like the soundtrack to a lost David Lynch film”.

With a penchant for creating songs with absorbing narratives that traverse genres, Blue Violet’s continue their craft with the release of their spellbinding new EP ‘Love, Hate & Salvation’ this Autumn.

-Official bio