Kerala Dust - Violet Drive (LP)

Kerala Dust make city music for people who like their nights to stretch out a little, and Violet Drive is the record that finally bottles what their gigs feel like at 2 a.m. It came out in 2023 on Play It Again Sam and sits right in that sweet spot where a live trio rubs against electronics in a way that feels human, unhurried, and quietly cinematic. The tempos cruise. The bass stays warm and centered. Details sneak up on you.

If you’ve seen them on stage, you know the trick. Beats that nod to motorik and house, guitar lines that flicker like headlights, and a hushed vocal that sounds more like conversation than declaration. Violet Drive leans into all of that. The single Pulse VI is a perfect gateway. A velvet low end, a patient kick, synths that curl around a simple melody. It swells without ever tipping into melodrama. Red Light digs even deeper, riding a nocturnal groove that feels built for long walks home. The band are masters of repetition that never gets dull. Tiny phrasing shifts and ghostly keyboard textures keep the songs alive, the way a good DJ set breathes from bar to bar.

What sets Kerala Dust apart is how un-electronic their electronic music can feel. You can hear hands on knobs and strings, not just mouse clicks. Guitars chime with a slightly dusty twang. Keys hum in that rounded, analog register. The vocal sits low in the mix, almost conspiratorial, but it carries stories about distance, movement, small-hours clarity. When the title track rolls through, the pieces lock. A steady pulse, a bass line that tethers everything to the floor, a slow-bloom hook that makes the room feel larger. It is less about drops than about drift, and the band are steady sailors.

The sequencing is unflashy and confident. Violet Drive plays like a night ride across a city you half-know, from the first clipped hi-hats to the last fading chords. There are hints of CAN and the Neu! motorway, the moodiness of Portishead, the lived-in murmur of Tom Waits, but nothing mimicry. Kerala Dust have carved their own lane, more road-movie than club heater, more candlelit booth than strobe. They trust groove and space. They trust your attention, too, and reward it with arrangements that open slowly, then linger.

It also helps that the production gives the music air. So many modern records compress the life out of the low end. Here, the kick and bass breathe. Highs are soft rather than brittle. There is headroom, which makes all the difference when the synths bloom or the guitar snaps into focus. Spin Violet Drive vinyl and that approach really lands. The weight of the rhythm section comes across with a physical thump, and the midrange carries texture you might miss on a phone speaker. If you collect Kerala Dust vinyl or you are hunting for Kerala Dust albums on vinyl in general, this one feels built for a turntable at dusk. It is the kind of record you throw on before friends arrive, then forget to take off because the room just feels right.

Fans who came in through earlier singles will find a band more patient and more sure of themselves. The songwriting is tighter than it first appears, with choruses that sneak up instead of sprinting to the finish. Pulse VI and Red Light will remain fan favorites for good reason, but the deeper cuts are where you feel the album’s quiet confidence. It is a record about motion and mood, the way cities hum, the way repetition can become a kind of grace.

If you are browsing a Melbourne record store or skimming vinyl records Australia listings, keep an eye out for Violet Drive vinyl. And if you like to buy Kerala Dust records online, grab it while it is around. It is the rare electronic album that suits a couch as much as a dance floor, a companion for drives, for late work, for unhurried weekends. Kerala Dust have always hinted at this world. On Violet Drive, they let you live in it for a while.