Espírito EP

Three years have passed since Lisbon producer Violet last put out a solo record, and in that time the 2017 track Togetherness has become one of those rare floor-fillers that refuses to age—popping up in sets from Detroit warehouses to festival main stages with undiminished force. Espírito is her long-awaited return, a four-track EP on naive that trades that record’s wide-eyed euphoria for something murkier and more ritualistic: Detroit techno mechanics filtered through the polyrhythmic pulse of NYC tribal house.

The title track sets the tone immediately, a deep kick rolling beneath hand-played congas and shakers whilst a stripped-back synth line coils overhead—tribal at its base, leftfield at its edges. After Forever pushes the template into slower, dub-tinged territory, its swung drums and cavernous reverb evoking early nineties New York, all fog and sweat. Psyche, meanwhile, is the EP’s most direct statement: a driving four-to-the-floor groove whose taut bassline and feverish drum programming build a genuine head of steam across its six and a half minutes.

Then there is Psyche (Eris Drew Remix), the track that generated much of the pre-release hype and, mercifully, earns every word of it. Drew keeps the tribal percussion front and centre but bathes it in her signature shimmer—ecstatic chord washes, a warmer, rounder low end and an unmistakable joy in the drum programming. It is the EP’s most overtly dancefloor-facing moment, and its most uplifting.

With Espírito, Violet makes the case that a slower, more considered return can be worth more than a quick follow-up. The EP’s restraint is its strength: nothing here grabs you instantly, but the grooves are built with real patience and rewarded with repeat plays. Three years was a long wait, but the record sounds all the better for it.