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Veronica

Nov 04, 2024 By Nick Roseblade Photography by Nick Roseblade Web Exclusive

Halloween gigs are special things. It gives the performers a chance to let loose and bite and ramp up the Samhain vibes. I was excited to see what ethereal chanteuse Veronica had to offer. This time I’m not on my own. My daughter joined me as Halloween fell in her half-term holiday from school. This was her first time at a Sandwich Session and she was excited/interested/allowed me to take her to check it out. We arrived a few minutes early so we could get a good spot. As we entered, we walked past a wicker basket full of Halloween sweets with a sign reading “Please Take Me! “. My daughter’s eyes were drawn to it. I said she could take one. Which she did. When the shop staff saw us, they made a bit of a fuss of her and said, “Help yourself to sweets”. I could see the cogs whirling in her mind. “How many is ‘help yourself’…?”. After I found a good spot for us, I said she could take one for me.

Before she could tell me “But they said, ‘Help yourself’ Dad…” Veronica took her place by the keyboard and the gig began. “As Dancers” was the opening song. After setting the keyboard off, Veronica’s vocals started off hushed, but slowly grew into a soaring, warbling, thing of beauty. As Veronica sang, she swayed, like smoke rising from a fire. This gave the song an even more ethereal vibe. Next up was “This is Where We Jumped”. For this one Veronica played the keyboard and sang. The jaunty melody, intricate wordplay, and her pristine vocals, gave the song a Tori Amos vibe. Never a bad thing. When she finished Veronica said, “I usually have to tone down the spooky, but today I might turn it up”. We cheered in agreement. Throughout the set, the songs that were played were stronger and the songs she just sang. The next two were new, as yet unreleased, songs. “Rose” was about “When you have a job that you don’t want to do, but you have to make rent” and “I’ll Never Dream About it Again” was only properly finished the week before and was one of its first public airings. Both featured glorious vocals, subtle rhythms with but delightful melodies. Throughout the gig my daughter looked somewhere between enchanted and bemused. She wasn’t sure how to act because this was the smallest gig she’d been to. A dozen people in a small shop. Some scoffing sandwiches and sweets. The final song of the set was “The Lake of the Dead’” This was the strongest and “My most popular song on TikTok”. The music swelled around clever melodies and some tongue twister lyrics. It grew, and undulated, as Veronica’s vocals rose and hit those killer notes. Throughout, my daughter looked at Veronica and the basket of sweets. When it was over, and we were leaving, I said she could take some more. She sprang like a jaguar and stuffed a couple of handfuls into her bag.

Veronica is a unique talent. Her songs sound simple but there is a beguiling simplicity to them. Though they aren’t simple. The keyboard playing is dextrous and precise, as are her ethereal vocals. In between the songs Veronica spoke to the audience and was genuinely funny. She told us a story about having a dream where “My family watched me drown in a lake”. After telling her family the dream her Mum said, “But we’re good parents?” Veronica replied, “Why did you watch me drown then…?”. The new songs sound fully formed but hopefully the next time I hear them Veronica will have given them the special vibe that “This Is Where We Jumped” and “The Lake of the Dead” have.

On the way to our next port of call, Bird and Blend if you wondered, I asked if she’d enjoyed the gig. “I did Dad…” she said then a glint hit her eye as she showed me the half dozen sweets she’d got for herself and her friend (who we were seeing later that night for trick and treating). I asked if she’d like to see Veronica again “I think so” she replied, explaining that she liked the songs, even though they were slower than the songs she usually likes. I could see her mental cogs whirring when she said “Will she have free sweets again…?”

“This is Where We Jumped” will be Veronica’s next single to be released on Friday 15th November.