I think the arrival of new Velocity Girl music is a reason to sound the indie trumpets!
The much-loved College Park-born band broke up after their 1996 album Gilded Stars and Zealous Hearts but has reunited a couple of times since then. Notably, in 2002 they got together to play some benefit shows for Bridget Cross, the band's original vocalist and later member of Unrest and Air Miami. Little did most of us fans know, but around the time of those gigs, the band got into Omega Studios in Rockville and recorded some tracks. Thought lost, those 3 studio songs are finally here in fresh 2024 mixes from band wiz Archie Moore.
"It's Alright By Me" is exuberant, catchy college rock. It's the sort of thing that finds the band leaning harder on melody than mood, despite the shoegaze tag that gets thrown their way so often. "Incidental Music", on the other hand, has a woozy guitar that makes me think of that My Bloody Valentine stuff inbetween the Glider EP and the release of Loveless. What was I saying about them leaning more on melody than mood? Scratch that as this one does both. The final new cut, my favorite of the bunch, is "Starter Guitar", a bright bit of business. Peppy, with a keyboard hook to kill for, this one finds vocalist Sarah Shannon and drummer Jim Spellman dominating things. But in a good way. The tune is catchy as heck, and different enough from what you might have expected Velocity Girl to do back then as to surprise as well as please. The EP is rounded out with live renditions of "Sorry Again" and "Pop Loser" from those 2002 gigs at the Black Cat in D.C.
Incidentals is out today for Bandcamp Friday. Details below.
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[Photo: Charles Steck]