With guitar music slowly but surely reclaiming a healthy chunk of the pop sphere, an awful lot of exciting new rock is bursting through with it, with London-based alt-rockers Ora Violet being one of the most authentic new faces to the scene.
Born back in 2019 and comprised of multi-instrumentalist production duo Black Tiles and guitarist Nick Ferman, their infrequent, yet wholly poised releases thus far have exquisitely articulated iconic tropes of the 70s proto-punk era through a formidable, contemporary attitude. Making their first step into 2021 a great stride, "Have You Met Me" is a bold and addictive new addition to their modest number of releases.
Packing a blistering amount of energy into a brief two-minute run time, it starts at full pelt, with an introduction that performs akin to any typical track's thunderous conclusion. Switching the down a peg to a galloping strut for the verse, vocalist Jeet Mulkeri who joins them on the track perpetuates that old-school reminiscence with a sour-tongued performance that recalls all manner of iconic vocalists of the same era.
The lyricism poetically applies themes of dutiful, antihero-like bravado, the just accompaniment to the hard-hitting instrumentation. As they explain via an email statement, it's also an empowering anthem for riding the waves of life, sharing that "the song was inspired by the realisation that the same way we go down, we come back up; gradually and then suddenly. The antihero protagonist has lived a life of unapologetic excessive in all ways and despite nearing the end, the statement is clear… I won't go down.”
