Layering alien echoes and a lush warmth into the moody effervescence of her work with Golden Gardens, musician Aubrey Rachel Violet’s "Diaphanine" — produced in the woods of Bainbridge Island deep in the heart of the pandemic — reflects an introspective beauty and raw intensity both personal and collective.
The album opens with “A Golden Vein;” Violet's singing flickers across swelling orchestral strains like the sun viewed from underwater. In “The Bottom of The Hourglass,” a grand piano mingles with howling from a nearby wolf collective. Throughout Violet flirts with a mounting and retreating tension built by layered harp, synth, and cello.
The result is a rich, organic sound that reaches moments of operatic intensity and even the occasional full-on wail — her spare lyrics touching on themes of change, loneliness, and the nature of self. “Breathing Statues” brings the project home with droning, meditative synth loops that you might lose yourself in but for Violet’s voice — rich, exploratory, and always distinct.
"Diaphanine" weaves shadowy depth with a searching curiosity — music created on the horizon line between the darkest night and the first pink hints of dawn. A mercurial work reflecting a world that is both frightening and gorgeous, depending on how the light hits it.
Recorded and engineered by Aubrey Rachel Violet in the woods of Bainbridge Island, WA
Mixed by Randall Dunn at Circular Ruin Studio in Brooklyn, NY
Mastered by Will Smith of Hatchback LLC in Brooklyn, NY
Cover photo by Aubrey Bramble
Back photo by Katherine Terran
Album Design by Chris Bendix
This album is dedicated to the spirit of self-love. Special thanks to: Amma, Ann, Trevor, Kat, Derek, Julian, Ezra.
On this harmonically rich LP, the Scottish singer-songwriter contrasts gorgeous soprano harmonies with strident folk-rock instrumentation. Bandcamp New & Notable Jul 26, 2023
These four works from composer Victoria Wijeratne have the broad sweep of post-rock and the gentle ache of Romantic music. Bandcamp New & Notable Feb 19, 2023