The Vera Violets

Starting out five years ago as eye-lined, black-haired kids playing in an acclaimed shoegaze band, The Vera Violets have returned as masters of darkness with the band's latest self-titled effort. Never forgetting the band's fuzzed-out, echo droned roots, The Vera Violets burst from the rabbit hole once again wearing the cloak of shoegaze. Like a Dr. Seuss story twists nuances of rhyme and alliteration, the band's newest album turns gradients of gray to black, with brilliant bursts of lullaby lights.

After a transcendent one-two punch in the first tracks, the third song, ?Dreams of Zena? is essentially a love letter featuring a guitar solo reminiscent of a dream alarm clock. It's the kind alarm that takes you into another dream. What follows are tracks synthesizing The Vera Violets past and present, offering the kind of fuzz and buzz you can only get from a band that equally loves Shoegaze, Psychedelia and Rock N Roll. Now a three-piece, the band's most cohesive effort could not have been without mates Neal McCamis: guitar, bass, synthesizer and back-up vocals; and Bryan Thompson: drums and bass. Jonathan Beadle is the lead singer, producer and also played guitar, bass, synthesizer and tambourine on the self-titled release.