Music Review // Chloe Violette "Colourfast"

 

If you've never heard the music of Chloe Violette before you're in for a treat.  What can begin sounding like other artists, ultimately finds its way to being unique and the voice of the artist by the end of the album.  "Colourfast" is soft and delicate at times, the type of album you don't want to drop for fear of it shattering into a million pieces.  But there are also times, and overall, you will be reminded that this album is strong and powerful; if you drop it there will be no damage.  This is actually how I've always felt about records- people make them out to be more fragile than they really are.

With some birds chirping we begin with a song called "Beginnings" which sets the tone with a somewhat haunted melodic rock.  It feels chill at first, but as the album goes on you can feel how it becomes more intense and serious even when the pacing stays moderate.  The song "Stranger" reminds me of Heart at times, but then it also goes into this dance style guitar part in the chorus.  The titular track brings out thoughts of Slothrust, which will stay throughout the album, until you really begin to just hear these guitars and think only of Chloe Violette.  "Skin" remnds me of the drive of Adele while "This House" has acoustics with big drums.

These songs tell stories in different ways.  I enjoy that the song "Stranger" has the lyrics: "I am strong, independent and I owe nothing to you" because it just makes me feel like how people who don't know each other will judge each other.  It really makes me think especially about how women wear t-shirts for musicians and guys will ask them to name three songs.  That sort of idea, but also into much worse grounds as men often times seem to love giving women unsolicited advice.  The titular track says: "We are Colourfast / We are made to last" and I like that this album promotes that durability.

The second half of this album, and really the last four songs become interesting.  "This House" is about how it's not the quality of the four walls around you but what's inside (the people).  Both "Gin" and "Road To Recovery" are acoustic at their core and about alcohol. "When You're Well" ends the album with this big anthem about how it will be Christmas time and they'll be laughing, as the birds return from the beginning to give this whole album a full circle moment.  While these songs stand well on their own, if you listen to this album it does feel like someone going through it but by the end it will leave you hopeful for the future.