Words by Elvis Thirlwell
A call for “curtains” usually signals the end of the show. But for London newcomers Velvetine, debut single “Curtainsong” is just the beginning.
Perpetrators of shoegaze and a grungy kind of psych, “Curtainsong” bristles and broods, pockmarked with gristle, detailed and cross hatched by serpentine riffs dragged straight from the proverbial garage. Indisputably loud, indisputably rock - think Queens of the Stone Age or something like Crows - Velvetine cast a vengeful spell. There’s a chuntering rhythm, a noisome guitar or two and a classically bewitched and smoky vocal from Mia Scarlet. Striking straight for the heart’s core tendons, she recalls all those friendly neighbourhood psychedelic chanteuses and their respective insatiable allures -Tess Parks, Hope Sandoval et al.
Speaking about the track to explain what turned them quite so mean, the five-piece dutifully confess: “Curtainsong sees Velvetine navigate the feelings that come with forced interactions. It’s always the same stories and repetitive scenarios you can’t get a break from. You are fed up with everything, with all the people, with having to put up with everything when your battery’s already run out…it’s about how busy, chaotic and loud is the outside world to your own inner self that is terrified, lost, confused, infuriated and mad”.
Velvetine launch the single at the George Tavern on Sunday 19th February.
Listen to "Curtainsong"
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