Some bands sound as if they are inspired by 90’s alt-rock. Velodrone sound as if they ARE 90’s alt-rock. And I mean that in the most flattering of ways. It is easy to listen to past bands and simply copy their sonic moves, but Velodrone is a band that captures so much more; the world-weary drawl of the times, the shoegazy textures, those raw-edged sounds of previously purely analogue bands experimenting with a new wave of digital effects, the sheer outsiderness of it all. Marisa Dewa may have been around for the final chapters of that scene’s sonic heyday but this eponymous debut seems to get right to the heart of the late eighties/early nineties underground sound.
From the sparse and brooding Elated to the visceral growl of Love Race, from the Lush-infused, shoegaze goes punk-pop of Voyeur to the gentle tones of Believe, Velodrone have it covered and the album feels both a tribute to those times and wish to reestablish such underground and inspiring creativity in the modern music world.
In fact if some twenty year old kid asks you what the pre-grunge, pre-indie, pre-Brit-pop days sounded like, you should just give them a copy of this album as a snapshot before pointing them in the direction of bands such as The Breeders, My Bloody Valentine, Hole and of course, the aforementioned and heavenly Lush.
