Veda Issue #25

The Weight of an Empty Room (Second Nature)

By Katrina Martin Davenport
Published: September 1st, 2005 | 1:21pm

Veda dances on that thin line between soft, dreamy pop and slightly harder indie rock, and the combination is like relaxing in a citrus-tinged bath: soothing and slightly astringent. The biting guitar riffs are rarely mixed louder than the vocals and other instruments, giving the songs on The Weight of an Empty Room a subtle edge that tempers the sweetness of Kristen May's voice.

I think of Veda as a semi-sweet Sundays or Frente (especially on the track "Lover's Lie," which smacks of the Sundays). Many of the songs include shoegaze atmospheres with the poppy arrangements more pronounced; The combination is beguiling and is definitely the sum of their influences: Joy Division, Denali, and Coldplay, among others. And although Björk is also listed as a muse, I might venture that May has listened to Rufus Wainwright at some point since her phrasing and powerful singing is reminiscent of him. She also sounds hauntingly similar to Melissa Kaplan, the singer behind Universal Hall Pass.

In addition to her powerful voice, May possesses strong songwriting skills. In "Still Standing," she voices her distaste for the current administration, singing, "Make me believe that all your good intentions / Will offset all the wrong you've done / Still I'll be screaming / You don't know all the wrong you've done." A complaint to be lodged on The Weight of an Empty Room is that several of the songs sound similar, which, in a way, allows them to blend into a seamless record. There is an acoustic guitar here, a piano there, but I might have liked to see a bit more of that diversity throughout.

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