Blue Violet have produced some of my all-time favourite songs ('Rabbit Hole' was one of my top 10 in 2022) and have even helped me get some words on the Guardian website. So I was incredibly excited to have the chance to speak with them recently.
Sarah and Sam Gotley have a long history of making music together, but their focus and style has developed and morphed over time. Under the name Broken Bones Matilda, they were an Americana band but while an album was in the works, they realised their British identity was becoming more important to them.
Sam: We wrote this album a little bit more with the live show in mind. There’s a bit more energy to some of the songs, faster tempos and I guess slightly heavier sounding guitars in places as well. But I guess we follow what we’re into at the time, and that’s where our instincts have led us really.
Sarah: We also enjoy listening to quite varied music, so I feel like the stuff we create really draws a lot of inspiration from a lot of different music styles across the board. We fall under the alternative bracket, but that’s so wide it could be anything.
Sam: There’s a playful kind of tongue-in-cheek nature to some of the songs on the album that I guess is reflected in the music in part as well.
There’s a protest theme in the first song to be released from the album so far – is that something dear to your hearts?
Sarah: It's a mixture between that and the observations of humans and human behaviours. There’s definitely a few songs on the album that are kind of observational protest songs - looking at how people protest, or how people interact with certain situations. Then there’s a running theme about human nature - the ironies of human behaviour and how ridiculous we are sometimes, and how we do things that go very much against our animal instincts and make us regress.
What’s behind the French song titles (there’s the single 'Barefoot on the Seine', and then of course 'Faux Animaux')?
Sarah: I’m half Scottish, half French, so we wanted to lean into the French side of things a little bit more in this album just to bring different elements of our personality and what we are about. But we recorded the album in Bristol…
Sam: I grew up between Bristol, Bath and Glastonbury, in a small village you wouldn’t have heard of. For the album, we ended up working with people working down Bristol way because that’s where I was born, but it happened by accident really.
Sarah: Hamish Hawk is very good. And I really like the new Pixies album. When I exercise I really like to listen to really sad slow music - I’m a weirdo! I literally like it to be as depressing as possible and it fires me up! So I’ll listen to a lot of Mazzie Star and stuff that’s low tempo and chill. I love Nick Cave. And we both love The Gaslight Anthem.
When Covid and lockdowns hit, that gave the duo some time to decide where they really wanted to go with their music. The result was Blue Violet and their debut album 'Late Night Calls', a record which was more indie in style but with folk elements and tinges of that Americana past.
I recently had the chance to speak to Sarah and Sam for LeftLion as they prepared for their Nottingham gig (supporting Echobelly) and the release of their second album, 'Faux Animaux' in January 2025. For this longer Music Observer interview, I first asked them to talk me through their approach to the new record...
Sam: We wrote this album a little bit more with the live show in mind. There’s a bit more energy to some of the songs, faster tempos and I guess slightly heavier sounding guitars in places as well. But I guess we follow what we’re into at the time, and that’s where our instincts have led us really.
Sarah: We also enjoy listening to quite varied music, so I feel like the stuff we create really draws a lot of inspiration from a lot of different music styles across the board. We fall under the alternative bracket, but that’s so wide it could be anything.
Sam: There’s a playful kind of tongue-in-cheek nature to some of the songs on the album that I guess is reflected in the music in part as well.
There’s a protest theme in the first song to be released from the album so far – is that something dear to your hearts?
Sarah: It's a mixture between that and the observations of humans and human behaviours. There’s definitely a few songs on the album that are kind of observational protest songs - looking at how people protest, or how people interact with certain situations. Then there’s a running theme about human nature - the ironies of human behaviour and how ridiculous we are sometimes, and how we do things that go very much against our animal instincts and make us regress.
What’s behind the French song titles (there’s the single 'Barefoot on the Seine', and then of course 'Faux Animaux')?
Sarah: I’m half Scottish, half French, so we wanted to lean into the French side of things a little bit more in this album just to bring different elements of our personality and what we are about. But we recorded the album in Bristol…
Sam: I grew up between Bristol, Bath and Glastonbury, in a small village you wouldn’t have heard of. For the album, we ended up working with people working down Bristol way because that’s where I was born, but it happened by accident really.
You clearly enjoy observing people and their behaviours – where does that come from?
Sam: That’s the way I like to write and get ideas out of my head really, and make sense of things. Even though we’ve got some songs which allude to injustices in the world, it’s not that we’re saying “You shouldn’t do this” or “You shouldn’t do that”, it’s more that we’re interested in what is actually happening and the impact that has on you as an individual.
Sarah: Sam’s a listener – somebody that observes the world, and sits there and absorbs what people are doing and doesn’t always feel the need to talk – not like me!
I was a primary school teacher and so I did a lot of psychology and sociology within that when I was training. I think we’re both very sensitive to the world in general. We’re people that like to be emotionally intuitive with things, and connect and listen to people… When that occurs, you can gain so much.
With everything going on in the world at large at the moment, there must have been plenty of material to draw on in your writing?
Sam: Absolutely. We started writing this album during Covid, and it’s spanned quite a long stretch of time while we’ve been creating it. And the situation just seems to be getting worse, so it just became more and more apt as we were making it. It’s not the way you want it to go, but it feels appropriate.
Musically the new album has a more electro feel, a bit more glam. How has that emerged?
Sam: That side of things comes out of being interested in instruments I haven’t really played before. I bought a couple of synths and played around with them, and got quite into it, but I was quite aware that we didn’t want it to turn into a synth band so I try to use that sparingly … for most of the album it feels like the glue that ties arrangements together.
Sarah: Tim, who produced the record, is really knowledgeable in synths, and so it helped build the sound in that area. But also we wanted to be able to go and have fun on stage, and so the new songs kind of reflect that as well. Not that the first album wasn’t fun! But it’s just maybe more fun.
It’s interesting that there’s been a resurgence of the Americana and Country style in pop music recently, but you’ve kind of gone the other way. Do you have any regrets?
Sarah: I think you create what you feel like creating at the time. As soon as you start to make stuff that’s influenced by what other people are making or by what you think people want, you detach yourself from it. If you create what you think is the best thing you can create at that moment in time and it reflects how you’re feeling and the message you want to put forward, then that’s the best you can do really. So no regrets on that, even though it’s very fashionable now!
To me it seems that the live element of music is particularly important to you. Would you agree?
Sarah: Yes, it’s very much about the connection that we make with people. We feel nothing can really replicate that. Social media is a great way to promote yourselves, but if you can get that backwards and forwards with the audience and really feel them there… and you can also gauge how people respond to certain songs which can be quite unexpected. So it’s always been important to us.
Sam: We love being in a studio as well, but where it’s different to live is when you’re recording you're making something that’s permanent and part of your legacy, if you like. And live is very quick – you have an hour or two basically where you’re just doing this thing and it’s electrifying and really connecting with people. The two are just so different to each other that it’s not really one thing or the other. They’re both amazing.
Sarah: There’s space for things to go wrong live which is quite exciting. You have to think on your feet - I get a lot out of it.
Sam: Whereas in the studio, if it goes wrong, you just do it again!
A lot of people might find that element of playing live terrifying and daunting, but if you can enjoy that, that’s great!
Sarah: Once you’ve fallen over on stage a couple of times you learn to accept that it’s going to happen.
Sam: At the beginning of the year we did this gig with The Gaslight Anthem, and one of the things I learned was just how relaxed they are about mistakes. It matters a lot less than you think if you play an A instead of a B by mistake. It doesn’t matter – it’s about having a good time and connecting with the audience.
Sarah: And the vibe and energy.
And perhaps the primary school teaching would prepare you well for being up there and being judged, Sarah!
Sarah: Absolutely. It gives you a thick skin!
Finally, what’s on your playlists at the moment?
Sam: That’s the way I like to write and get ideas out of my head really, and make sense of things. Even though we’ve got some songs which allude to injustices in the world, it’s not that we’re saying “You shouldn’t do this” or “You shouldn’t do that”, it’s more that we’re interested in what is actually happening and the impact that has on you as an individual.
Sarah: Sam’s a listener – somebody that observes the world, and sits there and absorbs what people are doing and doesn’t always feel the need to talk – not like me!
I was a primary school teacher and so I did a lot of psychology and sociology within that when I was training. I think we’re both very sensitive to the world in general. We’re people that like to be emotionally intuitive with things, and connect and listen to people… When that occurs, you can gain so much.
With everything going on in the world at large at the moment, there must have been plenty of material to draw on in your writing?
Sam: Absolutely. We started writing this album during Covid, and it’s spanned quite a long stretch of time while we’ve been creating it. And the situation just seems to be getting worse, so it just became more and more apt as we were making it. It’s not the way you want it to go, but it feels appropriate.
Musically the new album has a more electro feel, a bit more glam. How has that emerged?
Sam: That side of things comes out of being interested in instruments I haven’t really played before. I bought a couple of synths and played around with them, and got quite into it, but I was quite aware that we didn’t want it to turn into a synth band so I try to use that sparingly … for most of the album it feels like the glue that ties arrangements together.
Sarah: Tim, who produced the record, is really knowledgeable in synths, and so it helped build the sound in that area. But also we wanted to be able to go and have fun on stage, and so the new songs kind of reflect that as well. Not that the first album wasn’t fun! But it’s just maybe more fun.
It’s interesting that there’s been a resurgence of the Americana and Country style in pop music recently, but you’ve kind of gone the other way. Do you have any regrets?
Sarah: I think you create what you feel like creating at the time. As soon as you start to make stuff that’s influenced by what other people are making or by what you think people want, you detach yourself from it. If you create what you think is the best thing you can create at that moment in time and it reflects how you’re feeling and the message you want to put forward, then that’s the best you can do really. So no regrets on that, even though it’s very fashionable now!
To me it seems that the live element of music is particularly important to you. Would you agree?
Sarah: Yes, it’s very much about the connection that we make with people. We feel nothing can really replicate that. Social media is a great way to promote yourselves, but if you can get that backwards and forwards with the audience and really feel them there… and you can also gauge how people respond to certain songs which can be quite unexpected. So it’s always been important to us.
Sam: We love being in a studio as well, but where it’s different to live is when you’re recording you're making something that’s permanent and part of your legacy, if you like. And live is very quick – you have an hour or two basically where you’re just doing this thing and it’s electrifying and really connecting with people. The two are just so different to each other that it’s not really one thing or the other. They’re both amazing.
Sarah: There’s space for things to go wrong live which is quite exciting. You have to think on your feet - I get a lot out of it.
Sam: Whereas in the studio, if it goes wrong, you just do it again!
A lot of people might find that element of playing live terrifying and daunting, but if you can enjoy that, that’s great!
Sarah: Once you’ve fallen over on stage a couple of times you learn to accept that it’s going to happen.
Sam: At the beginning of the year we did this gig with The Gaslight Anthem, and one of the things I learned was just how relaxed they are about mistakes. It matters a lot less than you think if you play an A instead of a B by mistake. It doesn’t matter – it’s about having a good time and connecting with the audience.
Sarah: And the vibe and energy.
And perhaps the primary school teaching would prepare you well for being up there and being judged, Sarah!
Sarah: Absolutely. It gives you a thick skin!
Finally, what’s on your playlists at the moment?
Sarah: Hamish Hawk is very good. And I really like the new Pixies album. When I exercise I really like to listen to really sad slow music - I’m a weirdo! I literally like it to be as depressing as possible and it fires me up! So I’ll listen to a lot of Mazzie Star and stuff that’s low tempo and chill. I love Nick Cave. And we both love The Gaslight Anthem.
Sam: For me, it's the new St Vincent album – the production on that is incredible. Also, we recently went to see Bruce Springsteen at Wembley. Whenever he comes around touring, I always spend a little time afterwards in that zone.
Photo credits: Luke Lebihan, Stuart J Clapp.
You can find out more about Blue Violet, including details of their live dates, on their website.