American post-hardcore supergroup L.S. Dunes are back with their second full release. Post-hardcore is very much cold winter music, so having the release scheduled for the end of January is very fitting. Balancing unique vocals and the obvious talents of all members, ‘Violet’ is an album you can tell a lot of love went into making.
The opening track ‘Like Magick’ eases you into ‘Violet’ with an almost spoken word intro, before the sludgy emo backing instruments come ploughing in. The lines and riffs throughout ebb and flow like a boat on a rough night with every few lines the song builds up then delightfully crashes down again. ‘Fatal Deluxe’ follows with another crash as it opens hard with a shouty post-hardcore run. These punchy elements are countered by beautifully layered warbly vocal tracks and repeated echoing phrasing.
If you want a song that demonstrates the influence and background of each member of this supergroup, then ‘I Can See It Now…’ is the one. A true product of its origins, adding together elements of each of the members' bands forming a unique sounding familiarity. Title track ‘Violet’ counters this nostalgia and shows us that L.S. Dunes are very much a band in their own right, encompassing the band's growth from their 2022 debut and the direction they should continue to head in. A melancholy and highly listenable song with punchy vocals and a thrumming baseline encapsulates the L.S. Dunes experience.
Hitting the middle of the album, ‘Machines’ is heavy on the My Chemical Romance influence and wouldn’t be out of place on one of their early albums. It is a modern-day emo twist on the old-school emo winning formula. ‘You Deserve To Be Haunted’ balances out the emo heartache of ‘Machines’, with its unique dark heavy intro brightened by light melodies held together with a brilliant bassline, great tones across the board and fun transitions and overlays between clean and unclean vocals.
From ‘Holograms’ and “magick” to machines and ghosts, ‘Violet’ might just be a steampunk album in disguise. ‘Holograms’ is an interesting transition to the final third of ‘Violet’, it highlights the breadth of the album, leaning right into indie-rock territory away from the emo and post-hardcore sound we’re used to from L.S. Dunes ‘Paper Tigers’ follows ‘Holograms’ really nicely with a lighter touch, but still incorporating some of the grit from the earlier songs and their debut album. From a more typical L.S. Dunes sound to a more typical L.S. Dunes message… Despite the band saying this album was a move in lighter and less cynical directions, there is still a thread of sadness and misery that comes through in a few songs, and penultimate track ‘Things I Thought Would Last Forever’ is without a doubt one of those songs.
The grand finale ‘Forgiveness’ is a big anthemic tune, acting as the earworm that will keep you coming back to the album. It is such a huge song that, while it stands strong as a closer, it does drown out the memory of some of the less unique songs that appear throughout the rest of the album.
‘Violet’’ is an album that feels both longer than its 40-ish minute runtime and over before it has started, which could well mean it’s the perfect length. The album is definitely an improvement on ‘Past Lives’, and seeing as each musician has clearly given a lot more effort and love to this project over the past two years, ‘Violet’ is well worth sticking on your sad emo playlist.
Words: Kayleigh Fryer
Photos: L.S. Dunes
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