The Veldt - Thanks to the Moth and Areanna Rose

The Veldt have been around since the early 90s so they’re not riding any bandwagons here. They helped to build the bandwagon. Their new EP, Thanks To The Moth and Areanna Rose, has production work from Robin Guthrie (tracks 2 and 3) and remixes from A.R. Kane (track 6) and Jason Furlow of New Kingdom & Carlos Bess of the Wu-Tang production team (7). Thus combining their Shoegaze and Hip-Hop influences.

The Colour Of Love Is Blue starts with drums, bass and the Chavis brothers’ (Danny and Daniel) flanged guitars. It could be the Cocteau Twins but Daniel Chavis’s falsetto puts it nearer to David McAlmont’s early band, Thieves. It’s a gorgeous song that rides on that strong, falsetto vocal. Black and Blue is slightly more up tempo but it’s still a light and beautiful vehicle for Chavis’s voice, which occasionally approaches the majesty of Bowie at full pelt in the song’s end section.. The bass playing of Hayato Nakao is also particularly strong and drives the song. Bass and voice are also at the heart of Fit To Be Tied, leaving the guitars to float before committing fully to the chorus. A Hip-Hop/R’n’B drum machine leads us into Camus which also has a huge distorted guitar line. The melody is less immediate but this suits the arrangement. They still make a big feature of the chorus and fully layer the guitars towards the end. Dakini has a stronger beat and is the last of the songs produced by the band (The Colour Of Love Is Blue and Camus being the others), but a better version of this song follows later. The first remix is A.R.Kane’s remix of I Like The Way You Talk which they initially place in a dreamscape with Chavis’s voice the focal point. As the guitars come in, they layer a flanged guitar with a hugely distorted guitar, pushing the song towards My Bloody Valentine or Dalek. There are also elements of Dub in the use of echo/delay. The final song is Bess and Furlow’s remix of Dakini. It’s not on my review copy but I’ve listened on Bandcamp and, as you would expect, it is different to the rest of the EP. Large parts of it are drum and bass, with a Hip-Hop production. But it totally works, testimony to the band and remixers’ understanding of both genres.

Whilst I wouldn’t describe The Veldt as a forgotten band, they are certainly not as well-known as their songs suggest they should be. The one weakness – and this was the same on their last EP, which I also reviewed – is a slightly muddy sound (at least on my copy), which is slightly distracting when you really want the guitars and vocals to take off. However, that in no way dampens the impact of this stunning EP which, hopefully, will lead on to a new album with pristine production and mastering so that we can all hear how awesome these guys are.