On The Mod Violets’ self-titled debut album, rock music has the power to lift you out of yourself, soaring on melodic electric guitar riffs and melancholic harmonies as powerful rhythms move the experience from track to track. Most of the original songs by the Milwaukee band are ’60s-style psychedelic, sometimes at that Byrdsy-cusp where folk-rock went lysergic (“Playground”). Lurking occasionally beneath the shimmering jangle and chime is a nod to ’80s alternative where some band members have their roots (“Mirror”). One number even sounds like a great song Buddy Holly never got around to writing (“Because She Could”). Most of the 13 songs have a way of seeping into memory and imagination and many—as the band’s name suggests—are irresistibly pulled toward that moment in pop history where 1966 was on the verge of 1967.
