Kerala Dust’s new album ‘Violet Drive’ is a record deeply affected and influenced by its surroundings. The band, formed in London in 2016, are now based between Berlin and Zurich, and the three Brits – Edmund Kenny on vocals and electronics, keys player Harvey Grant and guitarist Lawrence Howarth – have created a deeply European album torn between the past and future.
Formed out of a growing love of electronic music mixed with a history in indie bands, Edmund started the band at a time when making electronic music on a laptop “seemed like the most sensible thing to do”. He adds: “I got really into club music and used to go to Fabric and Corsica Studios loads. I got deep into the endless repetition of all of that music, and the way that, as it repeats incessantly, things unfold on you and it almost becomes a weird sort of mantra, leaving you in a clear headspace.” These hypnotic elements are a defining force behind Kerala Dust, whose music incorporates blues and americana mixed thrillingly with untraditional electronic beats.
In a break from past ways of working, the songs on ‘Violet Drive’ were built from the drums up, and this truly stunning, off-kilter percussion defines the album; in keeping with the record’s inspirations, they often sound like a war cry. Recorded in two weeks in a studio in the Alps just outside of Zurich by Tillman Ostendarp… PlayItAgainSam
1. Moonbeam, Midnight, Howl (5:41)
2. Violet Drive (5:24)
3. Shake (0:21)
4. Red Light (3:57)
5. Pulse VI (5:27)
6. Jacob’s Gun (4:02)
7. Salt (3:19)
8. Still There (5:15)
9. Nuove Variazioni di una Stanza (2:30)
10. Future Visions (3:58)
11. Engels’ Machine (4:17)
12. Fine Della Scena (3:34)