Review Summary: The Vera Violets sound is heavily influenced by bits and pieces of shoegaze buzz bands from the 80s and 90s. The Jesus and Mary Chain, Swervedriver, Spiritualized and My Bloody Valentine comes to mind when listening to In Between Fire.
The Vera Violets is a fuzzy psychedelic shoegaze styled band from Tampa, Florida. The band consists of Jonathan Beadle (vocals, guitar, synthesizer, tambourine), Neal McCamis (guitar, bass, synthesizer), Bryan Thompson (drums) and Gregg Alexander Neville (bass). In Between Fires is amazingly the 8th release from this little known band. Their sound is heavily influenced by bits and pieces of shoegaze buzz bands from the 80s and 90s. The Jesus and Mary Chain, Swervedriver, Spiritualized and My Bloody Valentine come to mind when listening to The Vera Violets. On In Between Fires their influences are slightly broader, adding more melodic elements to the songs. Gloomy vocals ride melodic layers of droned guitars, bass and drums throughout the album. With this style of of music it is quite easy to bore the listener due to the repetitive nature of the style. This album manages to transcend this by not sounding monotonous or space filling. Solid arrangements in the modern psychedelia vein helps in keeping the songs interesting and edgy. It is certainly worthy of repeat listening.
A refreshing aspect of this record, is the vocals. Some of songs on this album allow the vocals to breathe by having them sitting on top which brings out the melodic elements of the songs. The album begins with the drone of ”Chemical Figure” then slips into the melodic jangle fuzz of “Let The Silence”. The foot tapping ”All The Way” and “First To Last” are like the band Sugar crossed with The Jesus and Mary Chain. The moody “My Love” is driven by buzz saw guitars and dark vocals. ”Rain” is a noisy number which sounds like Dinosaur Jr. going mellow. “External Factors” is their take on goth styled post punk. Overall this album is very cohesive and the songs fit well together, drawing a nice blend of shoegaze drone and psychedelic rock.
