(label)
23 July 2011 (released)
11 August 2011
Following on from last year’s eponymous EP, London-based The Veta Corps have returned with their ambitious and impressive debut album My City. Their sound has become much more striking: pianos and synths broadening the scope of the songs, while singer Matt Harris carefully takes the listener through his tales of confusion and anger. What really sets The Veta Corps apart from other similar bands, is their seeming refusal to become consumed by that darkness. This record is packed with memorable numbers.
There’s a playfulness to the opening guitar lines of the title track, an multi-faceted journey through the wasteland of modern recession-era city life that reaches a crescendo with sky-scraping guitars and crystal harmonies, Harris defiantly and possessively announces “this is still my city I’m not going to quit” lest you dare think otherwise. As statements of intent go, it's rousing.
Without time to catch your breath The Veta Corps launch into the propulsive drums of “Secrets”, which promises that “there’s nobody else but you” before that old doubt re-emerges and the song closes with an almost confessional “rushing out”, the track going from euphoric to desperational in a few seconds. Once engrossed, they hold you close to the record and try not to let go, moving through the anxiety of “Metrics I” (“I know we’ll never speak again”), on to the sinister, stalking rhythms of the Radiohead-like “Convention”, before hitting an adrenaline rush with live favourite “You Never Notice”.
In an album litteres with highlights there’s still space for its stand-out moment in the atmospheric “Foot Soldiers (Because)”. It acts as an encapsulation of the album’s aim and vision: full of contrasts, chiming and towering chords at once evoking both joy and sadness while the band marches into a climax of throbbing bass and crashing cymbals, a glorious and exhilarating cacophony. Thoroughly enjoyable.
www.thevetacorps.co.uk
‘My City’ was released on 23rd July and is available as a digital download from major retailers. For a chance to hear the album live, The Veta Corps will be headlining The Barfly in Camden on Fri 19th August.
