Kasumuen Records brings to you high definition thrills and spills, in the form of the new single “Victory Girl” by Melbourne based band Velvet Parade, an Australian super group made up of Ripley Hood (lead vocals) of Lime Spiders, Vincent J Kramer (guitar) of Cold Harbour, Peter Azzopardi (bass, backing vocals) of Claire Birchall’s Phantom Hitchhikers, Ashley Jones (keyboard) of Matt Malone’s Holy Spirits and Fraudband’s Don Drum (drums).
I had forgotten how rich Hood’s vocals can be, like bourbon whiskey, that slowly burns at it goes down, bringing the drama, and “Victory Girl” is a perfect tune for his singing. The other elements of the track are equally important with the strikingly rolling drums setting the pace, the stoic charged guitars adding the wonderful twang of consequence, and, of course, the piano that creates a touch of class in a town full of dust, trampled dreams and a love won, then lost..
There is a rawness to this track, and it brings the same chills down the spine as Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ From Her To Eternity and points to a sound so profoundly Australian. Grippingly disjointed at times, that resolves into a grandiose upheaval of boudoir southern gothic honky-tonk, a perfect mixture of maudlin and yesterday’s personal regrets. The debut LP from Velvet Parade will not be far behind, which has been recorded, mixed and mastered by Loki Lockwood and Dugald Jayes, so all I can say is that I am down for this and a whole lot more…..
Velvet Parade (@the.velvet.parade) • Instagram photos and videos
