Seems after a year of no news, we’ve been hit with a slew of Veronica Falls releases/tours/tracks in a span of two weeks — and I couldn’t be happier. Most posts center around their new 7” being released on Slumberland Records (which you can cop here). Slumberland has posted a stream to the A-side title track and Steregum premiered the video — all of which you can check out below. In addition, Weekly Tape Deck shared what looks to be a fan-made video for the VF’s track “Come On Over” (a twinge of loss when hearing it’s not a Christian Aguilar cover) which is a song scheduled for their upcoming LP, also on Slumberland.
Yesterday I got a treat when my set of five new Captured Track 7”s arrived in the mail. I’ll be posting my impressions on the other four later this week, but for now I’ll dive into the one I was most excited about: Veronica Falls‘ Found Love in a Graveyard.
Judging by the album art alone, you would think this was the back cover to another Woodsist release, but instead of being filled with noisy lo-fi goodness that “the other” NY label tends to gravitate towards, Veronica Falls C/T release is a concoction of sweet pop mixed with shadowy Raveonettes-like lyrics (the confectionery equivalent being somewhere along the lines of “dark chocolate”). I mean, the title of both the 7” and the A-side epitomizes their music best, tipping you off on what to expect before the needle ever hits the wax.
“Found Love in a Graveyard” is unquestionable their largest hit to date, garnering a lot of attention from a lot of people who know music better than me. Opening with an ominous guitar line and ghostly hums from vocalist Roxanne Clifford, the track could easily have gone down the uber-creepy path like Fielder’s “The Watcher”. Instead, it switches gears at the arrival of the first chorus, generating some extremely catchy lo-fi pop.
On the other hand, the B-side “Starry Eyes” — a Roky Erickson cover — is much more straightforward 50s pop than its flip-side counterpart. With bouncy lighthearted instrumentation ripped straight from The Crickets playbook, the track tempers the country feel of the original, letting the pop shine through more clearly. Although Clifford doesn’t possess as unique of a voice as Erickson, she holds her own with her soft-spoken whimsical rendition.
You can check out Veronica Falls version of “Starry Eyes” [Via: Transparent] as well as a rare Erickson acoustic performance of the song below:
