After putting out one of my favorite albums in 2011, the UK noise-pop foursome - Veronica Falls have followed it up fairly quickly with the release of Waiting for Something to Happen, their second studio album. With influences ranging from The Velvet Underground to The Pastels and The Vaselines, their debut was full of lovely four part harmonies led by guitarist - Roxanne Clifford, reverb drenched chugging rhythms, and creepy songs about stalkers, departed lovers, and suicide. The album struck an interesting balance of impending doom with catchy hooks and striking vocals.
Waiting for Something to Happen features some of what I loved about the first album, but overall is not quite as strong. Working with Rory Attwell (who also produced some of the band's early demos), the new album was recorded live in the studio in between tours last summer. Many of the songs were partly written beforehand and finished during the sessions; unlike the songs on their debut which had been played live for over a year and completely finished before entering the studio.
On the second album, their playing has definitely improved but overall the songs are not as immediate. Still, the lead-off single - "My Heart Beats" is the best song they've recorded yet! Opening with some ear splitting feedback on guitar from James Hoare, the tune shows the band branching out into shoegaze and neo-psychedlia. The title track is also wonderful and goes into borderline jangle pop territory. Unfortunately for every song that seems to go towards a new bold direction, there are one or two that drag it backwards. "Falling Out" and "So Tired" sound as though they're simply going through the motions and re-writing old songs with new lyrics.
That sense of "impending doom" on their debut is partly gone here. The mood is slightly more upbeat, even happy at times, which I have no problem with. However the doom and gloom lyrics have now been replaced with safer more "normal" topics such as breaking up is bad, falling in love sucks, and growing up is hard. Still Veronica Falls haven't abandoned the sound that made them tick. There's plenty of tasty harmonies (such as the excellent 2nd single - "Teenage") and the Lou Reed/Sterling Morrison guitar chug is still very much alive on "Broken Toy". Other notable highlights are the Halloween-meets-Pixies - "Shooting Star" and epic closer - "Last Conversation". This seems to be a bit of a transitional album, not as great as the first, but with some new elements and stronger more diverse arrangements at times.
out of 5
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