We Speak Music
The Violet Mine Share New Single ‘White Night’
The Violet Mine is a masterful collaboration between singer-songwriter, Meredith Minogue and songwriter-guitarist, Jim Barry. Their latest single ‘White Night’ is a catchy, hook-driven song that combines folk rock and indie pop. The single exemplifies The Violet Mine’s distinctive writing style with its energetic rhythm and enigmatic lyrics. The instrumentation includes vocals, guitars, piano, bass, drums, and percussion.
‘White Night’ originated in a dream which might explain some of the surrealistic imagery. Meredith dreamt that she was stuck in a well singing “came to pay the spirit guide’. When she woke, she could still hear it and quickly wrote the line down. The rest of the lyrics followed very quickly in an almost stream-of-consciousness way. As Meredith says, “I don’t sit down and say I want to write a song about x. It usually begins by being influenced by a word, feeling, chord or vibe and I don’t know what it means until later. Looking back, the theme seems to be about deception, vulnerability and being preyed on by those who abuse their power. I’m interested in the human condition and how people (myself included) absorb and reflect their external experiences. What is an illusion or a lie? What is the “agreed upon” illusion? What are we responsible for and what do we let go of?
The chorus, which says, “home is where the heart is…you got what you wanted” is set against major chords, which belies the darker lyrical content of the verses. To give a clue about the meaning of the lyrics, they named the tune “White Night” (taken from a phrase used by master manipulator Jim Jones).
‘White Night’ demonstrates The Violet Mine’s developing songwriting and recording maturity. From a production standpoint we try to sonically create an environment for each track and this one called for something live, spontaneous and organic. According to Jim, “This is definitely the most straightforward pop track. The groove on this song makes me feel so good. Rob Draghi (drums), Skip Ward (Bass), and Joe McGinty (piano) really created something special. The guitar was challenging because it called from a style I wasn’t fluent in. When Meredith brought it in, I did some research and dug into some 1970s deep cuts with players like Jesse Ed Davis and Wayne Perkins. I wanted that spontaneous, joyful feel. The solo was overdubbed on one of the last days of our album recording and we already had one ‘in the can’. I was able to just let go and it came right out.”
To achieve the lush layered harmonies they brought in Meredith’s sister and fellow musician Annie Minogue to contribute vocals. “This was the first time Annie and I ever sang together on record as I usually do all the background vocals myself. When people who are related sing together, it almost sounds like one voice.”
The Violet Mine’s latest offering ‘White Night’ comes ahead of their ten-track compilation, of the same name, which expertly combines folk-rock elements, unique guitar melodies, engrossing synth work, and intensely personal lyrical content. Their music resides within the bittersweet areas of life. It is a captivating musical voyage that highlights their development as artists.
Michele Ducci has unveiled the second single, ‘Woman Like You’, from his forthcoming album and animated film ‘Snail in the Clouds’.
‘Woman Like You’ pairs bright distorted electric guitar with an electronic drumbeat, adding in Ducci’s soulful vocals and a catchy uplifting chorus with Letizia Mandoleisi’s sweet vocal harmonies. A vintage organ pedalboard operated by Ducci simultaneously generates chords, bass and rhythm, like a one-man band. Shane Kennedy (Girl in the Year Above) joins in on guitar. Simon Milner (Is Tropical, Ysing) recorded and produced the track at his 4am Studios in London.
The album and film tell the story of a planet called ‘Snail’, inhabited by hybrids – primarily a mixture between scorpions, snails and humans – who lead a life according to the style of Pythagoras, devoted to music. There is also a cloud man named Agostos, a writer of musical operettas, who together with a talking smoke machine called Doctor Subtilis, begins to kill all hybrids, targeting in particular the hybrid musician Diodoros and his band, in an effort to steal the ark of melodies, an ancient ship that allows the whole planet to survive with music and joy.
The video for the single, created and animated by Ducci and Mandoleisi, delves further into the realm of planet ‘Snail’:
Says Ducci, “The ark of melodies, after various attempts, finally starts to work and fly in the planet Snail, while the shady Doc. Sub. and Agostos, with their platoon of soldiers made of foggy smoke, spy the miracle, planning to steal the ark for their evil and tyrannical purposes.”
About the track, Michele says, “I wrote this song for my love Letizia. Love seen from the mind is the sound we make. Sound is the love of matter.
We used a Technics synthesizer organ from a flea market. I tried to find a mood that was right for the song and I started using the bass of the pedal board together with the synth and the drums, and it was magical to hear the song reveal itself all coming from a single instrument. Leti was singing with me and we recorded everything live in one shot. Then we made Shane do the guitar flight, as if he came out of the window. The idea was to maintain disproportions, guitar thrust and synth drum thinness a la Haroumi Hosono, so as to create an estrangement, but naturally: it’s about how I listen, with close up something that captures me in its nuance as element of a larger orchestra somewhere. I’m glad we decided in the studio with Simon to use the layers of arrangement as the close-ups in the cinema; they look like strange enlargements that perch on parts of a mutated orchestra. I’m happy to come back with this love song at a time when everything seems to opt, even my labor in managing the flows of selfishness that have poured out on me while doing this album, for the sound of war. I’m here happy to be able to say that the sound of love always wins as did for me. Snail in the clouds is one of the most important works in my life and I am glad to start from pure love for this album that is my son.”
The album and full-length film will be released on the 5th of June on Monotreme Records.
Michele and Letizia’s previous musical short film, ‘The Great Book of Nature’, is an official selection for the 2026 Venice Shorts Film Festival.
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