This San Fransisco band aren’t just channeling the best elements of The Cure’s sound, they’re also mining the introspective depths of 90′s Shoegaze with swirling guitar and fuzzbox melodies. At times singer Kevin Tecon sounds more like Robert Smith than Robert Smith does and the act even contributed a version of “The Upstairs Room” on the Perfect As Cats Cure tribute album. While music fans who have been around for at least a few decades might scoff at this and call it a retread they would be missing the point. Veil Veil Vanish‘s version of Post Punk adds a lot more to the mix, making it sound contemporary and fresh even as it grants a solid nod to the classic music that inspired it.
They’ve got a new full length album coming out at the end of February on Metropolis called Change In The Neon Light which will serve as a proper debut in spite of the self-released ’07 EP Into a New Mausoleum. To warm up potential new fans and whet the appetites of established admirers they have presented a new five track single for “Anthem Of A Doomed Youth” which contains that song and another album selection along with three remixes.
Named after a book which compiled poetry from those who served in the first World War, the title track rings with bittersweet guitar and crunchy bass while its companion piece, “Modern Lust,” shimmers with synth and propulsive percussion which serve as the backdrop for an overly familiar sounding chorus.
The three remixes of “Anthem” run the gamut from the bouncy and ebullient “Cheap Speed Remix” to the dramatically slowed down and phasered echo of “No Wave In Hell Remix” to the intriguingly restructured “Gomorrah Remix.” None of the three are particularly memorable and probably won’t serve to make the band much of a presence in the club circuit.
While I could count myself among the crowd that thought at first this was just another pointless retread I have to admit that the more I listen to Veil Veil Vanish the more I like and appreciate what they’re doing. They’re definitely a band to watch and it would seem their wildly growing popularity will make it that much easier to do.
