I’ll see you in the vacant light
Somewhere in-between
In a room that my body makes
For you and me
Some songs announce themselves with a manifesto. Violet Silhouette’s This Is Something seems perfectly happy admitting that nobody involved has quite figured out what the hell is happening yet.
A chant catches against a taut backbeat, bass and drums immediately putting bodies in motion while the synthesizers maintain a cooler distance. There is some early Human League in that contrast between machine discipline and romantic uncertainty, while the repetitive rhythmic pull recalls LCD Soundsystem at their most economical. Violet Silhouette leave plenty of room around the beat, allowing repetition to become its own persuasive force. Five minutes later you may still have questions, although sitting down probably will not be among them.
This Is Something catches the instant before certainty settles in: two people meeting somewhere between confession and possibility, with a dance beat underneath them and enough unanswered questions to keep things interesting.
The song began with rhythm. According to the band, the drums and beat drove its development while melodies were tested until the track revealed its peculiar identity. Compared with much of their forthcoming album, VIVID(IS)DECAY, This Is Something leans further into dance music, though its lyrics occupy considerably less certain territory. With Lily Vile joining on bass, Violet Silhouette now operates as a trio, and that expanded physical presence suits material built so firmly around movement. The group formed in West Palm Beach in late 2019 and has since become geographically divided between South Florida and Austin. Distance has become part of their method rather than an impediment, with Dan and Zaii exchanging early ideas for VIVID(IS)DECAY beginning in 2024.
Night provides the setting, but clarity remains elusive. Someone is trying to make sense of where they have been while simultaneously wondering whether knowing would accomplish anything useful. Desire can be detected before it can be understood; feelings exist before language catches up with them. There is hesitation throughout the verses, coupled with a growing willingness to let another person see what has previously remained private.
Then Violet Silhouette introduce one of the song’s strongest images: two people meeting somewhere between recognizable states, inside a private room formed by the body itself. Suddenly This Is Something feels less like an evasive title and more like an admission. Whatever this connection is, somebody has finally acknowledged its existence.
The accompanying video carries the uncertainty somewhere considerably stranger. Violet Silhouette initially perform inside gorgeous neo-film-noir compositions, bodies moving with the backbeat before strobes, abstract tableaux, and blurred recollections begin interrupting any comfortable sense of reality.
“Visually, we drew from David Lynch’s Lost Highway,” says the band. “Our friend Roberto Badillo took our vision and ran with it — the result is sleek and visceral, like a gloved hand dragging desire across the table.”
That glove fits. Watch the video for This Is Something below:
Produced, mixed, and mastered entirely by Violet Silhouette, VIVID(IS)DECAY explores what the band calls Neuromanticism, their pursuit of truth and love through unstable identities, secret languages, and emotional dissolution.
Listen to This Is Something below and order the single here.
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