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Jul 10, 2015 Web Exclusive By JR Moores

It’s been nine years since the last Veruca Salt album and 18 years since the original line-up recorded together. After the success of 1994’s fuzz-rocking debut American Thighs and its more bombastically glossy follow-up, 1997’s Eight Arms to Hold You, the group rapidly haemorrhaged members until only Louise Post remained, soldiering on under the “Veruca Salt” banner with a revolving set of backing musicians for 2000’s gloriously bitter breakup album Resolver and 2006’s IV. Now, finally, Steve Lack, Jim Shapiro, and Nina Gordon return for what, in spirit at least, might be deemed the “real” third Veruca Salt LP.

Veruca Salt will never be as “cool” as other female-led groups such as Sleater-Kinney, perhaps because that swaggering second LP was produced by cheese-rock producer extraordinaire Bob Rock and none of its members starred in a successful hipster-skewering TV sketch show beloved by hipsters. All of which makes Veruca Salt way cooler than Sleater-Kinney, in this hipster’s opinion. Backed by crashing college-rock instrumentation, Post and Gordon’s melodies come straight out of the Lennon/McCartney school of beautiful ditty-writing; a winning combination. Lyrically, they don’t shy away from addressing directly their messy split, years spent apart, and eventual reconciliation. At times, it sounds like they’re documenting something far more serious than the turbulent narrative of silly old rock ‘n’ roll band, like a divorce or missing pet or something, signifying just how much the individuals in this group mean to each other, and how great it feels to have the old gang back together. (www.verucasalt.com)

Author rating: 7/10