There’s something about NYC band Violens that seems to make them hard to like, or difficult to get a handle on, at least. Perhaps it’s the clash of pop classicism (you can hear the influences of Ride, Slowdive, Echo and the Bunnymen and ’80s synth pop across their releases so far) against the multimedia conceptual art collectivisms of bandleader Jorge Elbrecht’s previous outfit Lansing-Drieden. If that’s not the sort of cliché that makes you want to rise up against the denizens of Brooklyn and burn down every pop-up art gallery in sight, then you’re a better person than me. That is being a touch harsh on Elbrecht’s current act, though, as Amoral was a pleasant enough, if rather undefined, debut release lacking that special something, as Jen Long pointed out in her review of the record for Best Fit back in 2010. Since then, Elbrecht’s pristine production and playing have been much in demand and he’s worked with fellow Brooklynites Erika Spring and Dinowalrus. He’s also kept busy with Violens, signed now to Slumberland. New album True is the first proper full-band release, recorded with the lineup that toured Amoral, Elbrecht joined by Iddo Arad and Myles Matheny full-time.

True is an improvement on the previous record yet there’s still a lack of definite identity about Violens; we go from the watery twang and gossamer-light vocals of ‘Totally True’ that stands alongside Wild Nothing’s take on the era, and the restrained jangle of ‘When To Let Go’ (which is basically an airy re-write of the Bunnymen’s ‘Seven Seas’) to the sudden jarring appearance of the guitar-heavy attack of ‘Every Melting Degree’ and ‘Unfolding Black Wings’, of which the former is great and the latter an impenetrable disappointment. Once the riffing of ‘All Night Low’ commences the third upbeat track in a row you think you might have a handle on where Violens are going, but then we drop back into introspection with ‘Watch the Streams’, which drifts into the aimless and now darker-toned ‘Lucent Caries’. Now we’re really wading through tracks heavy on the old echo effect. Thankfully this worrying progression downhill is halted by the charming shuffle of ‘Through the Windows’ and the closing shimmer and funk of ‘So Hard to See’.

There’s an argument that genre-hopping and switching of pace and tone should show the depth and talent of a band, and to some extent that is actually what’s happening on True. I can accept that Elbrecht and co have the talent – his work as a producer, especially on Erika Spring’s recent EP, shows that – but there’s too much moving around and too much straight nostalgia for that to be made apparent on this record. If I’m to cut Violens some slack it is their first record with a full band so they are still testing the water as a trio to some degree, but I’m still no closer to getting a handle on them – very much still a work in progress, but surely they can only stay that way for so long.

Listen to True