Apparently before Palma Violets’ debut album 180 was released, the London band received a lot of hype in its homeland. They won NME’s Best New Band award and were nominated for the BBC’s Sound of 2013 award.  Now that the album is out, there’s this big (okay, big might be a slight exaggeration) debate over whether or not they truly deserve the pre-garnered attention that they got. 

Unfortunately, some of that debate has spilled over to the states and my response? Stop it. Just stop it. 180 is a great album; if you think that it’s less great than Palma Violets is getting attention for then good on them for making a name for themselves pre-release (imagine all of your friends’ bands who would kill for that!) and if you think that it’s greater than anticipated then good on them for exceeding expectations.

Let me reiterate. 180 is a great album. 180 opens with “Best of Friends” which, while lyrically might ostracize some of the more feminist listeners (“I see witless Wendy” … “I don’t want you to be my girl”), at least attests to the band’s hook-worthy capabilities. Samuel Thomas Fryer makes these sharp vocal cut-offs that immediately prelude, and therefore emphasize, some inexplicably entrancing rocky riffs. Oh, the feels!

As a glutton for a flaunted bass, this track sets the stage for a whole album whose production, if not driven by the frequently overlooked four-stringed audio beauty, makes a point of giving it equal attention. The production of the album actually makes the band seem more minimalistic at times than they actually are. Although the four-piece band includes a starkly sound-altering keyboardist, the winningly crude nature (I say as a positive thing) of the compositions draws comparisons to the rawer styling perhaps of the Clash or the seriously minimalistic duo Japandroids.

180 concludes with “14,” a marathon track that seams together two apparently unrelated songs with only a moment of auditory space between them. It’s the kind of repeatable ballad that blind-sights you to spending about a half an hour listening to it by playing it just thrice times over.  It’s a perfect ending to a, if not perfect, great first album from Palma Violets.

180 is available for purchase at Rough Trade Records or Amazon and you can check out Palma Violet’s upcoming US tour dates on the band’s official website.