War Violet and the dark moving melancholy orchestrations of "Different Formations"

 

"Make your move for us / And we’ll show you what you wanted / With all bodies tumbling down / I can see the faces surrounded / We will fly just like the birds...."

Melancholy lyrics swirling in a darkly beautiful orchestral orbit draws you into ""Different Formations" by War Violet, the moniker of New York-based musician / singer-songwriter Jummy Aremu. The atmosphere, the sonic push here could have existed in the 60's as easily as now and in fact I do feel a hippie-esque bohemian folk thing happening faintly that makes me flash on The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967) as well as current artists like Florence + the Machine, Birdy or maybe a cross generational amalgam of all of the them. Mostly though I am inspired by Jummy's poetry and melodies expressed with such an evocative vocal countenance and the way all the musicians involved breathe life into this track as arranged by Miles Dupire-Gagnon.

Jummy shares this about "Different Formations":

"This song was written at a time when I was dealing with insomnia. In my half asleep half awake state I often felt as if I was floating above earth. I observed earth from afar as a spectator, and thought to myself, if I was not here, then where would I be? Different formations is about coming to terms with the decay of our earth and atmosphere, and our search for meaning. It is about the ways in which we live on earth like we want to escape it. I wanted to indulge in the chaos and irony of earth, and make a song that was beautiful, but sad. A letter to the wonderful and horrifying chaos of earth, a place where there is extreme beauty, but also decay, all happening at once."

I love all the lyrics but this passage feels pinned to my heart and brain.

"Make your move for us
And we will show you what you wanted
With all bodies tumbling down
I can see the spaceships surrounded
We will fly just like the birds
Or you will perish with the others
Like an angel tumbling down
Or a statue on a mountain"

For me, "Different Formations" feels austere while darkly drawn. At once a slow moving nightmare in a grand ballroom or maybe a vision of things to come with time to correct, to pivot in time to survive.

-Robb Donker Curtius

THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM 

https://open.spotify.com/artist/34wxOA4XavkiSkqX21Z4Z2

https://www.instagram.com/war_violet/?hl=en

https://www.warviolet.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Warviolet/

https://warviolet.bandcamp.com/

War Violet is New York-based musician and songwriter Jummy Aremu.

A few years ago Jummy self released a lo-fi debut EP called Getaway, described by Alt Citizen as “jangly groovy folk pop with Beach Boys and Angel Olsen vibes.” Fast forward to now: with her debut album complete, made with her ever-growing group of friends and collaborators, her sound has evolved into a vast landscape that explores darker themes such as isolation, alienation, identity, and loss. Emerging from a dream and a nightmare, War Violet asks the question, “what do we fill with these open spaces?” With the goal to illuminate, War Violet is the harsh truth, yet there is beauty.

The new single Different Formations will be released on Kill Rock Stars in the US and on Bella Union in Europe.

War Violet, folk, psychedelic, folk indie, dreamy imagery, dark poetry, New York-based musician / singer-songwriter Jummy Aremu, "Different Formations", orchestral folk,