AMS Album of the Week 13

Veronica Falls released their self titled debut album back in 2011 to a smattering of applause from the indie pop scene. Adding shoegaze elements and some great little indie guitar riffs to the basic Camera Obscura template made for a very listenable and funalbum. It never really clicked for me though, and after a few listens I’d pretty much forgotten about the band. That is until a few weeks ago, when I saw they’d released a new album, and decided to give it a go. I expected very little, since bands with forgettable debuts tend to release even worse sophomore records. Instead, I was blown away. This could well be my favourite twee pop release for a couple of years.

There’s not really anything new here. It’s the same basic formula of twee pop with a bit of noise pop and shoegaze. It’s got the same male / female vocal interplay. It’s got the same little indie guitar riffs thrown in a few times every song. It’s just better at all of them. The songs seem to be a lot more well thought out. The choruses are catchier. The first album had a few great tracks (the new album reminded me of that) such as ‘Bad Feeling’ and ‘Come On Over’ and a lot of fairly average ones. The lows of this might be the same tedious twee pop filler but the peaks aretruly fantastic. ‘If You Still Want Me’ and ‘Buried Alive’ are already two of my most played tracks over the last 6 months or so and I’ve only had them a few weeks. ‘Broken Toy’ and ‘Waiting for Something to Happen’ are also some of the best modern twee pop around as well.

As with the vast majority of twee pop albums, there are a few that don’t work. It’s tough to make 12 consistent tracks of catchy fun without a couple of clangers (even Dear Catastrophe Waitress [Belle and Sebastian] had ‘Step Into My Office Baby’) and ‘Falling Out’ and ‘Last Conversation’ tick that box here. However, the vast majority is good and there are a few tracks of absolute gold. This is definitely a record I’d recommend to indie pop fans and one I imagine I’ll still be listening to in months to come (with a few skipped tracks...). I definitely won’t be forgetting about Veronica Falls again any time soon.