Show Review: Vivian Girls, Veronica Falls

My first Oxford concert experience was completely unplanned. I was out with friends one night at the Jericho Tavern (which evidently hosted Radiohead's first public show) when I realized the upstairs music venue was hosting blog-buzz magnets Vivian Girls that evening. Never one to turn down an opportunity to see the opening act from M. Ward's last tour, but a bit poor for purchasing tickets, I snuck in, got thrown out, then marked my hand with a friend's sharpie in the same way the people inside had theirs marked.

Soon after the accomplishment of this ingenious plan, the last 'local' opener came on: London's Veronica Falls. Fitting right in with the indie-rock girl-group vibe of the evening, their lineup was evenly split between males and females. Walking basslines, jangly surf-rock riffs overdriven to approximate shoegaze walls of sound, and propulsive drumming supported tight vocal harmonies that would have been reminiscent of the Beach Boys if not for the female lead. This is indie rock, but with a pop sensibility: short, catchy numbers that leave the listener wanting more rather than wondering when it will end.

Straight outta Brooklyn, Vivian Girls is one of those bands that is great because Pitchfork said so. With the amount of blog hype around this 3-piece girl group, perhaps I just expected too much, but that is more a criticism of the hype than my judgment. Indistinguishable churning riffs, lackadaisical drumming, and "harmonies" that sounded more like drunken singalongs did not contribute to my otherwise pleasant show-going experience, so I left about halfway through the set and wandered off to find my misplaced friends. Evoking Phil Spector's "Wall of Sound" is all well and good as long as it is constructed out of music, and shoegaze can lead to greatness for technically proficient musicians, but Vivian Girls accomplish neither.