PVA - Blush

Even for those who’ve never seen PVA live, it’s impossible not to conjure up visuals when listening to their long-awaited, debut full-length, ‘BLUSH’. Sinister synths rumbling beneath the lightness of Ella Harris’ voice introduce the record, an eclectic foray into everything from abrasive post-punk to techno to electropop. Openers ‘Untethered’ and ‘Kim’ evoke the strange-yet-inviting darkness of the dancefloor at way past midnight with only the caustic strobe lighting illuminating the writhing, thriving bodies moving to the rhythm. The shimmering soundscapes of ‘Hero Man’, coupled with Ella’s chanting of “Can’t eat, can’t sleep / Can’t go to work / I can’t leave” make for a hypnotic and dizzyingly addictive track; the dark synthpop of ‘Bunker’ and Josh Baxter’s vocals atop the strange, eccentric instrumentation is haunting, the score to a nightmarish fever dream that you can’t seem to ever wake yourself up from. “We’re all born ignorant, but you keep feeding it,” the vocalist snarls on ‘Comforting Eating’. “Comfort eating growing pains until you get sick,” she goes on to mutter in the next line, just one of many examples of Ella’s smart and sharp lyricism. ‘BLUSH’ is a collection of wonderful and curious songs perfect for soundtracking that 3am dancefloor feeling - or maybe just your nightmares.