Artist: Veda
Album: The Weight of an Empty Room                
Label: Second Nature
Tracks: 13
Length: 49:55
Review by: Luke Kruse

 

When I received Veda’s debut full-length The Weight of an Empty Room in the mail to review, I thought to myself that the name Veda sounded familiar, but I had no idea where from.  I put the album onfor a few minutes right away just to see if it would sound familiar, but no connections were made.  The very next day I went to see mewithoutYou and Dredg play in Cleveland, and lo and behold the opening band was Veda.  It seems that I must have seen that they were the opening band at some point, and had simply forgotten. 

Seeing a band live before writing an album review sometimes makes it difficult to judge the album for what it is, but in the case of Veda, I had strikingly similar opinions about both album and show.  The first judgment I make when hearing or seeing a band for the first time is whether or not they are “bad music.”  Veda is certainly not bad music.  The powerful female vocals of Kristen May and driving rock sound are certainly not going to make anyone cringe.  After I determine whether or not music is “bad” or not, it is time to dig a little deeper and begin to assess the quality of the work.  On The Weight of an Empty Room, Veda seem to be a band with all the right tools to become a standout act, but have not yet developed their sound in a way that will distinguish them from countless other rock groups.  The production here is courtesy of Ed Rose, noted for his work with emo groups like The Get Up Kids and Brandtson.  Rose certainly isn’t an experimental producer, and sticks to that mold with Veda, whose sound I would compare to a mix of Brandtson and The Cranberries. 

When I listen to this album, the only striking thing about it is that nothing, outside of May’s voice, strikes me at all.  The guitars provide a nice wall of sound, but never find a niche.  The rhythm section keeps it together, but never anything more.  The lyrics go well with the music, but never make the listener stop to ponder a well-written line or intriguing word play.  This 11 track album, which clocks in at fifty minutes, just seems to drag.  I listen to all the albums I review al least several times before I write about them, and the times I listened to this it was hard to keep my focus and not wish I was listening to the new Sufjan record. This parallels the sentiment I felt about Veda at the aforementioned concert of, “OK, this is nice enough, but let’s get it over with already so I can see what I came here to see.”