Violet Grohl - Be Sweet To Me

Ostensibly the product of a trial-and-error approach which saw her take in everything from jazz to soul to pop, that Violet Grohl’s first full-length is so comfortable in its own skin is one of its greatest strengths. It was, perhaps, inevitable that whatever she released would be held up against her Foo Fighters father; but, rather than be wilfully obtuse, with ‘Be Sweet To Me’ she’s instead chosen to unapologetically lean into what is presumably her musical ground zero - that is, ‘90s alt-rock - to deliver a debut of truly impressive proportions. Make no mistake, there’s riffs aplenty (opener ‘THUM’ roars into life with breakneck propulsion, and the pummelling ‘Often Others’ could conjure circle pits with the best of them), but it’s by no means a collection of predictable, copy-and-paste grunge; the likes of ‘Last Day I Loved You’, ‘Pool Of My Dreams’, and ‘Mobile Star’ introduce softer shoegaze textures, the latter’s lullabic, lilting melody in particular recalling the woozy, bittersweet touch of Cocteau Twins or Beach House. Bringing the two sides together, then, is ‘Applefish’: at once hauntingly delicate and deliciously heavy, it’s a metamorphic track that marries tender and tough with breathtaking beauty - a tightrope few have walked so well since Ellie Rowsell. There may have been a pre-ordained path for Violet (or at least, a predicted one), but ‘Be Sweet To Me’ shows she’s out to tread it on her own terms.