It’s a Thursday night and there is an autumnal chill in the air; so I head out, cardigan-clad into the Camden night to see Veronica Falls. The London via Glasgow four piece deliver a set of their spirit of C86 sound to a bustling room. The much-discussed nods to 80s and 90s indie like The Pastels and Vaselines are apparent in their jangling riffs and lyrical tales of coy love of which ‘Come on Over’ is a prime example.
They’re a tight unit, and the vocal interplay between James and Roxanne sounds great but they look a little at odds with playing live. They rarely look up from beneath their fringes and chatter is limited to song introductions and the odd ‘thank you’.
Shyness aside, the songs translate really well live. There is an immediacy about ‘Bad Feeling’ and the sparse rattle of ‘Beachy Head’. Most of the set comes from the eponymous debut album which mixes catchy indie-pop with gothy garage rock. ‘The Fountain’ and former single ‘ Found Love in a Graveyard’ showcase their darker side.
They shuffle on for an encore of ‘Starry Eyed’ which brings back the light side and with that they take their leave in the unassuming way they arrived.
“Indie’s not dead”, remarks my friend. It certainly isn’t, but I don’t think they will be playing scene-stables like this for much longer.