Merge Records – UK Store

Also available: Exclusive Dinked edition on green vinyl with signed postcard.

The first appearance of The Clientele's debut album on Merge vinyl! Long out of print and highly sought after since its initial 2003 UK issue on Pointy Records, this LP pressing marks the first time The Violet Hour has been widely available on the format in North America. Its package features restored artwork that pays homage to both the original Pointy LP and Merge CD editions.

The Clientele stretch the early evening of The Violet Hour out infinitely, manipulating the structured time of the pop song the way poets manipulate the structure of language—to capture place, mood, stray thoughts, disappointments, potential, and, above all, longing. It is a shimmering jewel of a record, its languid melodies and reverb-drenched choruses at once sublime and tragic.

The Violet Hour has endured decades later as a signature album in The Clientele’s catalog, not only perfecting the sound that made the band a message-board phenomenon but revealing entirely new depth to it. In its wake, it was no longer possible to declare them one of the best-kept secrets in indie pop. The Clientele were, and remain, one of the genre’s most important figures, and The Violet Hour was, and remains, one of their most vital statements: a lush invitation to their underground.