A Series of Late Night Calls with Blue Violet
Albums are always particularly special. It’s the culmination of a multitude of work from that artist, a collection of their best music at that time. It’s also a deeper dive than a series of singles, or even an EP. In the case of Blue Violet, their debut album is like a book of short stories, a series of ‘Late Night Calls’.
Blue Violet are Sarah and Sam Gotley.
The duo of Blue Violet are married couple Sarah and Sam Gotley, previously of Americana-inspired band Broken Bones Matilda. Prior to releasing their first single from the album, Blue Violet recorded covers by Electric Light Orchestra, Jimi Hendrix and The Everly Brothers. The latter was sung partly in French by Parisian and Scottish vocalist Sarah Gotley, whilst Sam takes on a multi-instrumentalist role in their music, including his share of lead vocals.
Since the easing of lockdown, Blue Violet have already played the Airwaves Festival with BBC Radio Wiltshire, embarked on support tours with Daytime TV and Tide Lines, plus performed headline shows in London. Their debut album ‘Late Night Calls’ was released in April 2022 and begins with their single ‘White Beaches’.
‘White Beaches’ is the perfect album opener, all at once gentle and assertive. The drums and percussion on this track are played by producer Rob Ellis, who features across ‘Late Night Calls’ in this capacity and more. Ellis’ drum performance is supported by Rod Brakes on bass guitar. In the distance you’ll hear the glistening violin of Will Harvey, with backing vocals by Rose Levy.
A mainstay of White Beaches is Sam Gotley’s electric guitar layers, including a baritone guitar giving this song additional depth. Where the production of this track exists in a wide expanse, Sarah Gotley’s vocal is mostly close, creating an intimacy with the listener not unlike Blue Violet’s acoustic rendition of the song, recorded at Middle Farm Studios where the bulk of this album was made.
‘Are you with her as she takes up arms to win the war?’
White Beaches quite simply is a call to arms to do all we can to save our environment. This is bolstered by the music video created by Kelly Larken, Sarah Gotley and Jasmine De Silva. Shot on a vast beach and starring Blue Violet, the video also features alarming statistics provided by environmental charity Surfers Against Sewage.
‘Keep me Undercover, when the sky turns black. Love me like no other, when there’s no way back.’
‘Undercover’ was the first single released from Late Night Calls, back in April 2021. It’s also the first song on the album to feature lead vocals from Sam Gotley, whose delivery is soulful and passionate with harmonies performed by Rose Levy. Sarah’s lead reaches further than White Beaches, morphing to fit the style of Undercover, with a standout lyric being, ‘it’s the body that fuels the soul.’
Piano is a notable element of Undercover, played by Patrick J. Pearson, who also performs on the acoustic version of White Beaches. Pearson adds whirling organ, while both Sam and Rod Brakes lay down guitars. In inspiration of classic rock records of the 1970’s, the crunchy guitar solo by Gotley is run through a vintage Selmer amplifier. Engineer Peter Miles makes his first appearance on the album with additional percussion and harmonium. The overwhelming feel of Undercover is that of a band playing in a room together, and the listener is a fly on the wall.
‘There you are now darling, strung out on the carpet…’
A more recent single from Blue Violet is the astounding ‘Rabbit Hole’. Patrick J. Pearson forms the basis of the song on piano assisted by Rob Ellis and Rod Brakes, with Sarah taking the lead vocal and delivering one of Late Night Calls’ most emotionally enduring pieces. Later, Rose and Sam add subtle and comforting backing vocals, scooping the listener up into a warm hug.
Gotley strums a more passive acoustic guitar to give the overall production more room to breathe. This allows space especially for Rob Ellis’ gorgeous and lush string arrangement, performed by cellist Sophie English and Will Harvey on violin and viola. ‘Rabbit Hole’ is a beautifully captured song, where the writing, performances and production come together to create four minutes and fifteen seconds of sheer perfection.
‘And once you know her secret, you’ll have control. When she takes you deeper down into the Rabbit Hole, you’ll find out how it feels to let her go.’
The video directed by Jarred Figgins stars Blue Violet in various outdoor settings where Sarah Gotley is attached to a piece of string, unravelled from a spool held by Sam as she walks away from him. A metaphor for the song’s delicate subject of addiction from an outside perspective.
‘They call me mad, I bet you know the feeling too…’
There is a feeling of hope in ‘Asylum’, a song surrounding the mental health issues felt by many, but knowing there are others who feel the same. With Sarah handling the bulk of the lead vocals, Sam takes a verse as if to narratively demonstrate that Sarah’s character isn’t alone in her suffering. An especially poignant lyric vocalised by Sam is, ‘heaven’s waiting up there, let me go in first.’
One of the most enjoyable parts in Asylum is hearing the combined backing vocal efforts of Sarah and Sam with Rob Ellis, Rosy Levy and Peter Miles, repeating the song’s opening line towards the end. Listen too for the band breaking down in laughter during Asylum’s fade-out. Released in November 2021, Jarred Figgins directs the video for Asylum, which sees Alice Findlay in search of someone just like her.
‘You bleed, you heal - I Suffer. You leave, and still - I Suffer.’
By contrast, the upbeat Asylum gives way to the more delicate ‘Suffer’, a song about the emotional damage inflicted in a toxic relationship. As well as Sarah painting the images with her voice and words, so does the sparse instrumentation.
Guitars are by Sam Gotley and Rod Brakes, with the former also playing electric piano for the first time on Late Night Calls, its twinkling tone a fitting accompaniment to the clean guitars. Rob Ellis returns to craft another complimentary string arrangement, you can almost feel the bow gliding over the strings of Sophie English’s cello. On this occasion, drums are performed by Peter Miles, which lift the song up along with Sarah Gotley’s expressive voice, ‘Why do you act so tough? Am I really so hard to live with?’
The longest song on Late Night Calls is the anthemic ‘Poster Girl’. The majick in this song is how it builds, beginning with a drone and pulsing synthesizer while Peter Miles adds shaker. Guitar and bass from Sam Gotley and Rod Brakes soundtrack Sarah’s first verse:
‘When I was a Poster Girl in 1984, you tore me from your magazine and pinned me to your wall. I led an armed resistance and held you at the gate, now the army in the distance doesn’t seem so far away.’
As the melody goes up when Sarah sings, ‘And I’ll never meet your mother…’ more keyboard is added. Both Rob Ellis and Peter Miles perform synthesizer in addition to Sam’s layered keyboards and grand piano. Across Poster Girl, it’s the vocal melody that ties this building arrangement together, with Sarah elevating her voice to match it.
The breakdown reveals Will Harvey’s almost tape string-like sound along with Sam and Levy’s backing vocals. A drum fill from Rob Ellis, who puts in a tremendous performance in Poster Girl, brings in the final lyrical refrain, beautifully mirrored by Sam Gotley’s piano:
‘Heaven without you is nothing without you, cut my lonely heart away.’
Jarred Figgins returns to direct the video for Poster Girl, which sees multi-disciplinary artist Athina exploring the world around her as a sound-recordist, documenting some of the things she sees with polaroid photographs too.
‘Hard Rain’ is a change of style for Blue Violet. On an album filled with acoustic sounds, the beat has a mid-frequency drum machine feel partly created with a Fender Vibro-Champ amplifier, with most of the band adding finger snaps. The mix for Late Night Calls was created by TJ Allen, who takes a different approach for Hard Rain, zooming guitar sounds across the stereo field like a spacecraft out of control.
‘You can’t come around here with your tail between your legs and a price upon your head.’
Not originally on the duo’s final tracklisting for the album, Blue Violet worked on this song from their demo, creating the most experimental piece on Late Night Calls. Featuring lead vocals from Sam Gotley, he tells the story of a character who’s just re-entered society after a stint in prison. Despite his jailtime being the price he paid to take the rap for a friend, the bad reputation that follows is his to bear.
‘Mama, it’s a crying shame that we don’t all look the same...’
The more mellow ‘Mama’ is the only song to feature extra recording outside of Middle Farm, where Blue Violet took the track to Monnow Valley Studios in Wales with engineering by Beau Blaise and Edie Philips. As the only guitarist on Mama, Sam Gotley also performs lap steel, infusing a country edge not previously heard on Late Night Calls.
Jim Barr of Portishead’s live band makes his only appearance on this album, adding double bass to Rob Ellis’ dry drums. The backing vocals on this track are like a gentle keyboard chord, creating a superb blend with Ellis’ numerous keyboard layers, including a mellotron which appears for the only time on this record.
Primarily written by Sam Gotley, Mama explores the hardships and alienation felt by teenage girls when they don’t fit in at school. Sarah takes the lead vocal for this song, breathing life and experience into these words, including the chorus:
“Mama never liked the boys at school, they talk in code and they act so cool. They take it in turns to make a fool out of me. And all the pretty girls just comb their hair, when we drive by, they stop and stare and say, ‘Wouldn’t you like to be beautiful like me?’”
‘Waking in the aftermath, he takes my hand…’
Where much of Late Night Calls exists in the fabric of reality, ‘Halo’ is a lyrical journey that enters the world of fantasy. A well-known reference for this song includes Jim Henson’s 1986 film ‘Labyrinth’, a similarity that’s shared in the lyricism being a woman who is lost in a realm presided over by a man. Blue Violet also hint at the idea of the character surrendering to the unknown, and how this isn’t necessarily a bad thing:
‘Take my Halo, I don’t need it anymore. Now my dress has hit the floor, I’m yours, I am yours.’
Halo is something of a finale to Late Night Calls, a grand arrangement of strings by Sam Gotley and Peter Miles, performed again by Sophie English and Will Harvey, with guitars, keyboards and a heavy musical conclusion that’s meant to be played loud. This would make an excellent closing song in live performance, as the release of Late Night Calls heralds Blue Violet’s first headline tour.
Jarred Figgins directs Halo in his most recent video for Blue Violet. Lianca Heemro stars in an old film screened in a cinema where the only occupant is played by Sam Jordan. Intermittently, Sam and Sarah appear in the film bearing the same symbol seen by Heemro’s character, but should she ignore it, or follow it?
The true ending of Late Night Calls comes with ‘Vanished In The Night’, a co-write with Blue Violet’s former Broken Bones Matilda bandmate Dom Sky. Rob Ellis takes a less conventional direction in the production, replacing drums with layers of foot-stamps and clapping. He even plays hubcaps while Peter Miles uses a fire extinguisher!
‘The angels that were fighting to protect me Vanished In The Night.’
At odds with her softer vocals earlier on, Sarah Gotley’s delivery for Vanished In The Night has a raspiness, recalling the rockier leanings of Stevie Nicks. The final guitar passage from Sam Gotley and Dom Sky is echoed by the backing vocalists, as Sarah aches the final words on Late Night Calls:
‘She takes my body and she takes my blood.’
It would be insulting to describe Blue Violet as newcomers, with all the years of experience and wisdom woven into Late Night Calls. Their debut album presents a well-rounded listening adventure, taking you on a journey through many walks of life - highs, lows and more besides.
Continue reading for our Q&A with Blue Violet. We ask Sam and Sarah where the title of their album originated, how it was to work with Rob Ellis and the environment at Middle Farm Studios, plus the subject of climate change and the inspirations behind some of the songs. All this and more below!
1. Your debut album 'Late Night Calls' has been a long time coming, where does the title originate from?
It is a lyric from track 5: ‘Suffer’…
“Next he was on my bedroom walls
When they were bare and black,
My early starts, my late night calls,
The scratches on my back”
We’ve known each other a long time and when we were in our early twenties, we would often call each other for a chat quite late at night. There’s definitely a night time type mood to this album too.
2. The music of Blue Violet evolved out of your work as Broken Bones Matilda, what caused the change in band name and musical direction?
The short answer is simply that the music was very different. Broken Bones was quite Folky / Americana and this has a much more British identity, musically speaking. We didn’t necessarily intend it to be that way when we were writing it, but it was a more conscious and deliberate decision once we were in discussions of how we wanted to record it.
3. Rob Ellis produced this album as well as played on it, what was his approach like in the studio?
Rob is very good at finding the line between the traditional songwriting elements and the more experimental moments, knowing when to let each of those things flourish and how they should compliment each other. He was also great at structuring the days and keeping on schedule. We would flit from song to song to keep things fresh and he was amazing at pulling the best performance out of you and made the process very enjoyable and feel surprisingly easy!
4. You were living at Middle Farm Studios during the making of this album, what was it like to be so fully wrapped around the recording process? Did you record all hours of the day?
We generally tried to stick to 10-10 but often ran over. We gave ourselves weekends off which was nice because we could go around Devon or have friends down to visit. There are definitely times when you find it hard to keep perspective but we actually found that being immersed in it fully all day, every day created quite a calming experience. It never felt like we were pushed for time because we didn’t have to be out at a certain time each day or anything like that, and whenever you had an idea you could get it down, even if it was out of recording hours.
5. With 'White Beaches' encouraging action on the environmental front, how do you feel about Extinction Rebellion and the way they've raised awareness?
Extreme times sometime call for extreme measures and although that’s not convenient to everyone, there’s nothing convenient about what we’re facing either, so it takes bold people doing bold things sometimes to make a difference. Movements such as these can be incredibly powerful and show what people can do when they pull together. What really struck a chord with us was the Schoolstrike for Climate movement. Seeing so many young children standing up and doing the job we should all be doing felt at once gut-wrenchingly sad as well as inspiring and uplifting.
6. The statistics in the video are startling - where was this one shot?
We went to a beach in Norfolk. It was beautiful and perfect for the backdrop of the stats we got from Surfers Against Sewage.
7. 'Rabbit Hole' is truly a beautiful song, where did the inspiration come for that one?
Thank you so much. It is a song fundamentally about addiction and how it affects personal relationships. We have our own personal experiences in this area and it’s a much more common thing than is often talked about. We wanted to write something that was delicate, beautiful and explores the humanity and sensitivity of the subject.
8. The music video puts you both in the centre, where did the idea for the unravelling string come from?
We worked with South African director Jarred Figgins on all of the music videos for this album bar White Beaches. Fortunately he was over in London for a couple of weeks so we got to star in Rabbit Hole and also Halo. We told him what each song was about and gave him creative control for all of the videos. We love the ideas he came up with. The string represented the feeling of powerlessness when you want to help someone but feel them slipping further and further away. Whilst simultaneously representing the lack of control within yourself.
9. 'Hard Rain' is about a character who lands themselves in prison after taking the rap for a friend. Did you have in mind what the crime was?
Sam Gotley: Good question! Bruce Springsteen has a song called Meeting Across The River which I interpreted as being about a drug deal borne out of desperation. I think Hard Rain could be something similar but more geared towards the treatment of people once they enter back into society. In America prisons are known as “Correctional Facilities” but there doesn’t seem to be much of a road to redemption for those that have been “corrected”, not to mention those who shouldn’t have been there in the first place. Even though this is quite a fun song musically, lyrically it’s got a more sombre meaning.
10. You also did some extra recording in Wales for 'Mama', what did you add to that song in Monnow Valley Studios?
We re-recorded vocals, strings and other overdubs like lap steel and also re worked some piano parts. It then got mixed again so basically the core was kept and then added to.
11. Since the record was mostly made in late 2019, how does it feel to be releasing this album more than two years later? Do you feel as connected to these songs as you did back then?
Strangely, yes we do. It’s weird because we had already come to realise that the theme of the album was light coming out of darkness. Our music feels simultaneously melancholy and uplifting and for obvious reasons that still feels very relevant, in fact probably even more so now. But that being said, it is a long time to have been sat on, it feels a huge release getting it out into the world!
12. With the pandemic affording creative people more time than they would usually have had, did you continue writing new songs during lockdown?
Yes we wrote a lot and recently recorded a lot of demos for songs we wrote in the lockdown. It wasn’t always a very inspiring time but, besides the pandemic, there was a lot going on politically over the last two years. It’s important to write in those moments and express how you’re feeling about what you’re seeing. We found there were bursts of inspiration followed by a few weeks of not much going on creatively, but, for the most part, it was productive.
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Purchase Blue Violet’s album ‘Late Night Calls’ on CD, vinyl and download on their official merch store. Merchandise also includes t-shirts, handwritten lyric prints and vinyl test pressings.
For more information about Blue Violet, including upcoming tour dates, visit their official website.
Follow Blue Violet on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @weareblueviolet.
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