Well, it doesn’t happen often that a band you’re researchin’ changes names part way through your looking into ’em, but that’s exactly what happened when I started digging into Alta Violet, formerly known as Sweet Shine. But hey, young band, they can still get away with a moniker jump or two.
Alta Violet is Austin psych-indie with some real variety to the few tracks they’ve put out so far. Where I hear Death from Above 1979’s pounding fuzzed-out bass and, interestingly, a bit of a schoolkid rhyming thing (which some other early 2000s bands got into for a bit) in track "Stare at the Sun," and "Emily in the Rain" is just pure 90s alt-rock, "I’ve Seen the World" is a song with its head fully in the 1960s harmonic folk-psych scene. This diversity of sound over three available tracks (preludes to an announced album, according to the info) that each manage to hit the genre target they aim for makes Alta Violet a band to watch out for. If they can make this all work together in a whole album, and maybe keep blending up the different influences they pull from, they could end up being a major local player at Psych Fest next time that thing comes around. Let’s just hope to whatever lung gods are out there that it’s a less dusty stage that Alta Violet sets up on than we got this last year. Goddamn that dust to hell. Check the heaviest available track from Alta Violet below, and get on over to their Soundcloud for the other noises this very new band can make.