L O V E I T V I O L E T Ft John W. Sanders – HERCULANEUM (Album Review)

HERCULANEUM is an album that feels both ancient and alive, like a found artefact that somehow speaks directly to the modern day. L O V E I T V I O L E T and John W. Sanders have built a record that doesn’t just traverse genres, it absorbs them. Folk, blues, Americana, jazz, rock, and even East Coast rap all coexist under a single emotional umbrella. The result is an album that feels like a living landscape of sound: warm, textured, and meticulously crafted, with each track folding naturally into the next.

From its opening moments, the tone is carefully set. The record eases the listener in with soft harmonising vocals and instruments that slowly fade into view. There’s a patient kind of confidence in this beginning; it doesn’t rush to grab your attention but instead invites you into its atmosphere. The mix is smooth, the instrumentation balanced, and there’s a clarity in the vocals that immediately signals both technical skill and emotional honesty. Even early on, the record feels calm yet powerful, grounded but expansive.

As the album unfolds, its range becomes apparent. Percussion-driven tracks build from sparse drum patterns into layered, rhythmically intricate grooves, blending influences from Afrobeat and world music with a distinctly Americana heart. The addition of whistles and hand percussion gives the songs a vibrant pulse, while the raspy lead vocals deliver joy and grit in equal measure. There’s a lived-in quality to the performances, something imperfect but real, like a musician grinning mid-take. Backing vocals and subtle overdubs add warmth and movement, creating a sense of community in the sound.

When the record shifts toward its folk and blues core, it becomes even more intimate. You can feel the wood of the guitar, the space in the room, the breath between lines. The writing here is storytelling at its most distilled, songs about people, loss, and place. Lyrically, HERCULANEUM thrives on small details: lilies that don’t wake, hardware stores with ghosts in their aisles, redhead kids in quiet cafés. These aren’t abstract metaphors; they’re specific images that linger, grounding the emotional weight of each track in tangible moments. The vocal delivery in these songs is deeply affecting, personal, soulful, and at times raw enough to feel like a confession.

One of the album’s most fascinating strengths is its sense of duality. It’s both deeply nostalgic and forward-thinking. There are tracks that evoke Appalachian front porches and others that belong in crowded city clubs. The seamless move from acoustic folk ballads to electric, stadium-ready rock feels intentional, a statement about how wide the American songbook can stretch when handled with respect and imagination. The introduction of electric guitars midway through the record injects a burst of energy, echoing classic rock and soul influences. The lead vocals rise to match this shift, drawing comparisons to Robert Plant in their intensity and range. It’s not imitation, it’s reverence filtered through originality.

Moments of experimentation punctuate the record without breaking its flow. A jazz-inflected spoken-word piece emerges near the album’s end, complete with saxophone, vibraphone, and cello, merging beat poetry with smoky, cinematic soundscapes. Elsewhere, a track built on East Coast rap flow paired with saxophone feels effortless and surprising, a combination that shouldn’t work as well as it does. These stylistic shifts don’t feel like detours but rather like discoveries, as if the artists are exploring every sonic alley their journey leads them down.

Production-wise, HERCULANEUM is consistently strong. The mix allows every instrument to breathe; acoustic strings retain their resonance, basslines pulse gently without overwhelming, and percussion sits perfectly in the pocket. The record avoids the pitfalls of overproduction; no track feels compressed or digitally sterile. Instead, it captures that elusive “live room” energy: the sound of real musicians interacting, adjusting, responding to one another. It’s especially noticeable in the dynamic arcs of the songs, how they rise and fall naturally, like waves.

Emotionally, the album covers a full spectrum: joy, melancholy, reflection, and resilience. Some tracks feel like wide-open fields at sunrise, others like the dim interior of a bar at last call. There’s a sense of time passing throughout the record, not just through lyrics but through sound. The slower, quieter songs often feel like pauses between larger movements, allowing the listener to sit with the weight of what’s been said before moving on.

Thematically, HERCULANEUM carries a fascination with memory, place, and transformation. It’s an album about the spaces we occupy, both physical and emotional, and the people who inhabit them with us. The recurring focus on names, towns, and imagery rooted in specific geographies gives the project an almost cinematic realism. At the same time, there’s a universality in its sentiment. Whether it’s the longing in a blues refrain or the steady optimism of an Afrobeat rhythm, the emotional core remains relatable and sincere.

By its close, HERCULANEUM feels like a full journey, one that begins softly, grows wild, and ends contemplatively. It’s an album that rewards patient listening, the kind you play all the way through rather than in shuffled fragments. Every stylistic turn feels earned, every lyric intentional. L O V E I T V I O L E T and John W. Sanders demonstrate not just musicianship but storytelling mastery, the ability to make every instrument, every pause, every breath serve a narrative purpose.

In the end, HERCULANEUM is more than a genre experiment; it’s a statement of artistic identity. It captures the essence of modern Americana while daring to stretch its edges. It’s soulful, unpredictable, and quietly monumental, a work that doesn’t shout its brilliance but reveals it, piece by piece, with every listen.

SCORE / Excellent – A beautifully constructed, emotionally resonant record that bridges tradition and innovation. HERCULANEUM feels like a love letter to storytelling itself, crafted with care, played with heart, and destined to linger.

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