Violet Indiana is the new project featuring Cocteau Twin / Guitar God / Certifiable Musical Genius Robin Guthrie, and Siobhan De Mare, formerely of generic british trip-hop band Mono. What made Guthrie decide to work with De Mare? Granted she has a pretty good voice -- and in his hands it is better utilized than it was on that Mono LP! However, her lyricism never really inspired me. Then again, Guthrie worked with Elizabeth Fraser for almost 20 years, and no one knows what the heck she was saying. Maybe Guthrie is more interested in voice as an instrument as opposed to the content of what has to be said. I can respect that. And, after listening to this EP, i conclude that he made a good choice -- De Mare has a very nice voice.

Or maybe i would like any voice that happens to be backed by Guthries swirling guitars and beats. I dunno.

Anyway, there are only four tracks, so lets examine each!

1. Purr La Perla. Guthrie plays guitar with extremely light distortion (weird for him) and lets her sultry voice carry the song. Showcases De Mare to really good effect.
2. Busted. Light sampled beats, her voice, him playing light lilting guitar (a la Victorialand) -- then, suddenly, the song ROCKS! An odd juxtaposition, but it works.
3. Silent. De Mare singing in a vaguely moaning and passionate style layered over overdriven guitar. This song is light and repetive, everything a pop song should be. It's the one i liked best on first listen. However, the music is the simplest on this song, and on repeated listens i recognize this fact.
4. Torn Up. The drum samples on this song are more like what the Cocteau Twins used. On the whole, this is a pretty straightforward pop song, but not too remarkable. It does sound very Heaven Or Las Vegas musically.

My verdict -- pretty good, but not amazing. In general, the beats are light and the songs remind me of slow jazz. Her singing is sultry, but clear. It shows potential, and i look forward to hearing more of this Guthrie / De Mare collaboration.

None available.