The press kit for this album was very promising. "Warm Beats, wrapped in sensuous melodies", it trumpeted. "Jute swirls with intensity and beauty". Of course, one thing that's usually a constant with press kits is that they're nothing but a pack of lies trotted out by some marketing graduate, but even so, the hyperbole usually allows you to pick out how a record is going to suck.

Based on the press kit for this album, I thought that Jute were going to be a Portishead or Massive Attack knockoff. Which is somewhat true in a way, "A Violent Narcotic" references both of those bands very heavily. What makes this album different, and worthy in it's own way, is that Jute incorporate just enough of a foreign flavour into their music to make it stand out.

Without a doubt, the highlight of this album for me is the angelic vocals of singer Julie Axis, who sprinkles her gloriously high-pitched lyrics over the music like icing sugar on a cake. Although I must admit that I'm a sucker for female vocals like this, these particular vocals are a particularly fine example of what can and should be done with music like this. Julie uses her voice to devastating effect on tracks like Ephemeral, which seeps into your head and will take you away to another place, sort of like a drug hit but without the health risks and illegality.

With all the concentration on the lyrics, it might be easy to think that the vocals are what carry this record, and that the instrumentation is just there to fill in the spaces. Fortunately, this is not true at all, while the rest of the band is a lot more low-key in their impact, they have that impact nonetheless. The band is very adept as blending genres together into a seething, textured feel, which incorporates genres as different as indie rock, hip-hop, and goth into it's style. Some tracks groove along, like Advent of Zero, while others are simply unsettling pieces of music, like Darksand, which features dramatic tempo shifts that will stop you from getting complacent.

While it's not perfect, there are a few spots where the music attempts to get a little too chic for it's own good, this record is a very good genre-crossing release by a band that has a bright future. Eerie, spooky, yet seductive enough to make love to, it's a little hidden gem that has received too little attention.

The press kit for this album was very promising. "Warm Beats, wrapped in sensuous melodies", it trumpeted. "Jute swirls with intensity and beauty". Of course, one thing that's usually a constant with press kits is that they're nothing but a pack of lies trotted out by some marketing graduate, but even so, the hyperbole usually allows you to pick out how a record is going to suck.

Based on the press kit for this album, I thought that Jute were going to be a Portishead or Massive Attack knockoff. Which is somewhat true in a way, "A Violent Narcotic" references both of those bands very heavily. What makes this album different, and worthy in it's own way, is that Jute incorporate just enough of a foreign flavour into their music to make it stand out.

Without a doubt, the highlight of this album for me is the angelic vocals of singer Julie Axis, who sprinkles her gloriously high-pitched lyrics over the music like icing sugar on a cake. Although I must admit that I'm a sucker for female vocals like this, these particular vocals are a particularly fine example of what can and should be done with music like this. Julie uses her voice to devastating effect on tracks like Ephemeral, which seeps into your head and will take you away to another place, sort of like a drug hit but without the health risks and illegality.

With all the concentration on the lyrics, it might be easy to think that the vocals are what carry this record, and that the instrumentation is just there to fill in the spaces. Fortunately, this is not true at all, while the rest of the band is a lot more low-key in their impact, they have that impact nonetheless. The band is very adept as blending genres together into a seething, textured feel, which incorporates genres as different as indie rock, hip-hop, and goth into it's style. Some tracks groove along, like Advent of Zero, while others are simply unsettling pieces of music, like Darksand, which features dramatic tempo shifts that will stop you from getting complacent.

While it's not perfect, there are a few spots where the music attempts to get a little too chic for it's own good, this record is a very good genre-crossing release by a band that has a bright future. Eerie, spooky, yet seductive enough to make love to, it's a little hidden gem that has received too little attention.