Violet Sedan Chair – Seven Suns (13th Tone Records, 1971)

Here’s a funny story. Starting 6 or 8 weeks ago the store begins receiving e-mails, phone calls, and drop-ins by customers who are asking about a record by a band called Violet Sedan Chair. Sometimes two, three, or four each day, over the span of a weekend. None of my co-workers had ever heard of it. Finally a girl walks into the store, approaches me and asks about the album. I chuckle and ask, “Did you just e-mail us this morning? Or call us a few minutes ago?” She responded in the negative. So I asked, “What is this album? Why are so many people looking for it?”

Apparently the TV show Fringe introduced this album as a legitimate musical artifact. The show’s creator, JJ Abrams, name-checked the band Violet Sedan Chair in a WIRED article a few years ago. Christopher Lloyd made a guest appearance on the show as a character who was a member of Violet Sedan Chair. She didn’t really know how or when, but somehow word leaked that actual copies of the album had been secretly placed in indie record stores. For Fringe fans, the hunt was underway. Was it just a brilliant viral marketing technique? Were there actual copies of Seven Suns? Did they contain any music or were they just props? As the girl she stood across from me I fiendishly searched the Internet for some kind of response regarding its existence. I had to shrug and send her on her way. I had no idea.

Last week one of our regular customers (a really nice guy with whom I often get carried away talking about travel and music) was walking around the store shopping, and I asked him — as I always do –about his recent acquisitions. He rattled off some names, and then he started telling me about a record he found at another store about five or six months ago. He said he’d never heard of it before (an impressive feat, as he has a near-encyclopedic knowledge of progressive and psychedelic records). It was dated from 1971, it had a strange, colorful cover, and he definitely didn’t know what it was. He purchased it for $5. When he got home he listened to it, played it for a friend, and the two of them theorized that the production contradicted its 1968-1971 recording timeframe. It felt too…modern. So he decided to look on the Internet for more information. In his exact words, “All I kept seeing were references to this thing…the Fringe.”

Something clicked. “Wait…does it have a weird, three-word title?” I was searching my memory for the band name but failed to recall it.

“I think it starts with Velvet…or Violet…” As he dictated I typed into Google: “Fringe,” “Violet,” and everything came together: Violet Sedan Chair. Seven Suns. This guy had found a copy of the record. It existed.

I called my boss over and told him the story. I called my co-worker over and made him repeat the story. Another customer who was searching for 45s nearby actually stopped and walked over to join in the conversation. Before long there were a half-dozen of us laughing about the discovery. What were the odds that such an avid record collector would waltz into a store and find something so mythological and rare without even knowing what it was!? The next step, of course, was to have him bring the record in for us to photograph and hear.

This is his copy of Seven Suns, the second known copy to be unearthed. It was purchased new, and yet the cover and album have both been intentionally damaged in order to preserve the legacy behind it. What kind of album released in 1971 wouldn’t be scratched, dinged and worn, am I right? This recording would ordinarily be too scuffed, scratched and “poppy” for me to post, but because some Fringe message board rumors question whether there are different mixes or different lyrics with hidden clues to future episodes of the show, I’m posting it.

What about the actual music? Everyone here who has heard it so far is in agreement that it sounds (at different moments) like Pink Floyd (“Set The Controls For The Heart of The Sun” specifically), The Byrds (most-closely on “Keep Climbing” — perhaps an ode to “8 Miles High”?), and The Who. I found the first track to be most like ’90s American shoegaze, maybe like a watered down Ride? There was another track that kind of sounded like Oasis. The points of reference one could make about these songs are all over the place. There’s a lot of pop melding with the more psychedelic production techniques. The lyrics…they’re pretty awful in a funny way.

Enjoy, and if you’re a fan of Fringe, let me know how this compares to the other copy. And please don’t e-mail me asking where you can find a copy of the album. I still have no idea how many copies exist or where you can buy one.

Violet Sedan Chair
Seven Suns
13th Tone Records, 1971
MediaFire DL Link

01. Seven Suns (rising)
02. Slow Vibration
03. Hovercraft Mother
04. She’s Doing Fine
05. Long List Of Lovers
06. Keep Climbing
07. 500 Years
08. Last Man In Space
09. Seven Suns (setting)
10. Re Fa Mi Si Sol La