CD Review: Veronica Falls - Veronica Falls

To put it simply this is an enjoyable, inoffensive, throwback album of well written, catchy guitar driven indie. The freshness lies in the band’s energy and their vocal melodies. Light and shade. A solid debut.

By Morgan Roberts / October 25, 2011

rating: 3.5

With an ominous opening, picked and repeated, guitar intro, the band name and some sombre track titles; you could be forgiven for expecting album opener, Found Love in a Graveyard, to soon drop down into a dirgey Goth metal affair. What you get instead is a slow build of layers and atmosphere as the repeated male voiced backing chant of found love and haunting female lead oohs fall gently on top of each other, before lead singer(and guitarist) Roxanne leads her oohs into the opening lyric I get on my bike, and I ride, and I ride, and Ill never be found again... and Patrick (drums) and James (guitars) backing chants drop out; and the album unveils itself as a ramshackle and reminiscent (of 80s British indie) melancholy guitar pop with its innocently morbid opening ode of falling in love with a ghost. Its a strong first cut from this album, and a great opener; introducing you to both band and album explicitly; guitars that shimmer and shamble between twinkly 80s jangles and clean garage rock drive, accompanied by a constant steady rhythm section (drummer Patrick and bassist Marion whose still learning to play) and Roxannes gentle vocal tones complimented by the lower male backing vocals of James and Patrick delivering what can only be described as twee-goth (if theres such a thing) lyrics. Topped with a simple and catchy chorus which hits the spot nicely. In comes Right Side of My Brain with its stabbed opening chords, the progression of which could have been nicked right off of Piper at the Gates of Dawn, which builds and drops into a dark hearted, car chase of a shuffle, and it keeps up the pace with a rhythmic spoken-sung vocal style through the verses, given the fully sung chorus more of an impact, and the inevitable slow right down of the middle eight, an altogether though more guitar driven garage affair, but still maintaining the ramshackle indie, just off of clean, guitar instead of getting a fuzz on. On a distant hillside, I watched our love die, I lost my baby to the winter... and so with track three The Fountain, were getting a little darker with a tale of mourning lost love, both bitterly and sweetly, as to is the music; starting softly melancholic it quickly develops a sinister quality and when the vocals and full band kick in it gets heavy (or as heavy as a basically clean indie band will get) and battles with itself between the bitter and the sweet, the light and the dark for the rest of the song. It works well musically, a nice contrast in shade carried through by the vocals, catchy and haunting; with the catchiest and most melodic vocal hook featuring perhaps its most bitter lyric just take your flowers and watch me wilt away. Misery, ironically, the happiest song of the album changes things up nicely with its contrasting sunshine pop to the up until now moonlit melancholy. Its sweet, its bright, its catchy, it protests that misery has got a hold on me, misery my old friend. Though youd never believe it. Before the run time is up on this one though we get brief stint in a haunting Victorian/Gregorian a cappella nursery rhyme as in interlude between the albums cheery high and... Bad Feeling. Opening with all open chords and intricate guitar lines it comes across somewhere between a western cowboy and a film noir detective, before it picks up and opens out into its indie dance floor hit for mopey Goths and 80s indie enthusiasts. Its another case of light and shade contrasts, in a similar vein to grunges patent of loud quiet dynamics this goes for happy and sad, dark and danceable, twee and goth (twee-goth Ive decided its a thing). A clear potential single and one for the indie clubs alongside Found Love in a Graveyard. With that youve sort of got the album really. I mean sure theres another seven tracks, but youve got it all here; Stephen a bassline that walked out on the Pixies and some lovely vocal harmonising, Beachy Head a dark and garage rocker with chanted groans that wouldnt fall fowl of Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster, All Eyes on You a more tender though still steady rocking track with some more complimentary vocal harmonising and Misery-esque positivity, The Box cracking drum groove and fancy guitar for darkness before subsiding into a chirpy and sweet pop song that has almost quite surprisingly nicked a vocal melody from All My Friends are Metalheads by Less Than Jake, Wedding Day 60s girl group fronting 60s garage band, Veronica Falls the quite hauntingly beautiful actually self titled track of the self titled album with a great mood and atmosphere especially the arrangement and vocal harmonising and melodies, Come on Over album closer that comes on all self titled Velvet Underground but soon kicks in & Nico style by way of the Beach Boys. And this is not to detract from these later songs, though some are weaker than whats come before, some are also clear highlights most notably Beachy Head, Veronica Falls and Come on Over. This is a band and in turn an album that has a distinct sound, a sound all their own and a sound all their influences; and a sound youll like or you dislike, you might even love or hate. Though the band do play around in their sound getting darker and lighter, noisier and softer, and each song for the most part is its own song, particularly on the stand out tracks (Found Love in a Graveyard, The Fountain, Bad Feeling, Beachy Head, Veronica Falls, Come on Over) the band and this album has its sound. If you like British guitar band indie from the eighties, or the more current set of indie bands coming out of America (particularly New York), who sound a little like British indie from the eighties, or you like The Velvet Underground, or Sonic Youths less noisy and more poppy moments, or you like to be miserable but at the same time upbeat, you like your macabre with a dash of naivety. Or maybe youre even a big follower of the twee-goth movement. Whatever. To put it simply this is an enjoyable, inoffensive, throwback album of well written, catchy guitar driven indie. The freshness lies in the bands energy and their vocal melodies. Light and shade. A solid debut. Veronica Falls is available on Amazon from October 17th.