VELOCITY GIRL
gilded stars and zealous hearts
(Sub Pop) ***
Nothing like a clear voice, a catchy guitar hook, and an unapologetic pop sensibility. Listening to Velocity Girl's new album- even at 3 a.m. with my Powerbook propped up on a pillow-my fingers are tapping; hell, my shoulders are even shimmying a little. While gilded stars and zealous hearts won't change your life or anything, it will provide an hour's worth of Velocity Girl at their best. It's easy to say that this album sounds like a single hour-long, Prozac-driven song; the chord progressions are remarkably consistent, as are the harmonies. But I challenge you to say you can't bop to it.
I remember finding out a few years ago that lead vocalist Sarah Shannon had been classically trained as an opera singer. My reply to my boyfriend, a big Velocity Girl fan, had been, "Oh, well, that explains it. Her voice is so boring. It's too perfect for pop music. She should have stuck to opera." Well, I must rescind that statement. Although Sarah's voice is, perhaps, irritatingly resonant, it does achieve truly soulful moments. And it fits so well with the, well, boppiness of the band (sorry to keep using that word, but it's really appropriate) that its sincerity comes through potently.
In spite of sincerity, some of the lyrics on this album get a little annoying. I'm not much for clichéd, angst-ridden phrases set against a pop backdrop. In "the only ones," Shannon croons, "I don't want to be the only one / Sitting alone, staring at the sun." You catch my drift.
The other potentially annoying part of gilded stars is the presence of often overzealous harmonies. But when these harmonies work, they're beautiful, as in one of the few moody ballads, "blue in spite."
One great thing about Velocity Girl is that they seem like they could be a group of cool high schools kids from the '80s, preserved in a time capsule, or something. Of course, they have qualities that are oh-so-'90s, like their indie-rock status as one of Sub Pop's many success stories, and their lyrics are at once irreverent and self-conscious in that Gen-X sort of way. But gilded stars has many Go-Go's moments of which Velocity Girl can be proud.
The other great thing about this band is that they produce cool music that even dorks can enjoy. I realize this might sound a little opaque. To explain: none of these songs really get loud or thrash around at all. They don't have any odd cadences or chord progressions that only a Bartok-lover could appreciate. There's no screaming. And almost all the songs are mid-tempo, which enables the fan to enjoy the same music while doing completely different activities; for example, running around or dozing off.
On gilded stars and zealous hearts, Velocity Girl finally owns up to what they really are. The album manages to be both consistent and interesting-and gloriously boppy.
-Rebecca DiLiberto
Copyright 1996, The Yale Herald, Inc. All rights reserved.
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