Turning Violet Violet

"You Have Fashioned"

by Patrick Rapa

The trick to making chamber-pop work is amping up the pop. Philly quintet Turning Violet Violet seems to know this. Their debut EP, Fierce Remains (CheapO), offsets the dreamy swoons of its viola with some peppy handclaps, a couple guitar hooks and some strong, lovely harmonizing. "Gang vocals," they call it. "You Have Fashioned" is a sneaky little asymmetrical power-pop tune; an unironic cowbell and a dah-duh-duh dah-dah chorus spring up between dense, head-scratching lyrics. "My brain's as big as your brain, but if you keep turning this vice you have fashioned, my will grows either way," sings Sarah Gulish, somehow blunt but sprightly. "My heart's as strong as your heart, but if you keep tramping, bruising and stamping, I won't tell footprints from veins." It's weird, but it sounds so sweet. Repeat listens are demanded and rewarded.

Fri., Aug. 6, 9 p.m., $10, with The Vanguard and Gemini Wolf, hosted by Meg and Rob, Johnny Brenda's, 1201 N. Frankford Ave., 877-435-9849, johnnybrendas.com.