A small boy peers from behind dark eyes, committing each instant of the music to memory. His fingers shift slightly as he watches the hands of the man who plays, and he is taken away. Mike Sandoz was eight years old the first time he recognized the significance of music in his life. Watching his uncle’s band rehearse in a musty basement in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Mike felt his body calm and his mind focus as the sounds filled him. For the first time, he felt real and alive. He longed to make music.
Years later, when Mike began composing his own music as The Violet Violet, he found a way to use that vitality to open up to his own life, letting his experiences flow through him. “When the music’s right, I feel genuine, in place and free to be. I avoid the temptation to try to be understood, and just try to express.†The latest product of this expression is the self-recorded, self-released album, “The New Era,†in which The Violet Violet combines solid acoustic guitar rhythms with gently striking vocals to convey sentiments to which just about anyone can relate. It seems The Violet Violet’s abandonment of the need to be understood has resulted in expression so honest that it is hard not to get what he’s experiencing in an almost intimate way. He will begin touring this set starting August 2007.
A stunning acoustic debut album behind him, The Violet Violet has turned to his next project, “White Sun Fusion,†in which he will bring in electronic accompaniment to back his gentle vocals and stirring observations. Slated for release in January 2008, individual tracks from “White Sun Fusion†will be available at www.myspace.com/thevioletviolet as they are completed. “The New Era†will remain available for purchase, as well.
A young man peers from behind dark eyes, committing each instant of the music to memory. His fingers dance over the keys and knobs before him, his head moves in rhythm, and he his taken away. He is The Violet Violet.
