A seemingly sweeter record than its predecessor, Waiting For Something To Happen is full of almost perfect three minute gems that smoothly flow through the record. As always with Veronica Falls, the veneer of musical perfection is always layered with an undercurrent of sinister cynicism, like a doe eyed beauty whose soul brims with sadness.
There’s no denying that this is more of a pop record than their previous, but still full of ghostly sweetness. And crucially, full of great songs. Teenage is a romp of a song, in as far as Veronica Falls do romps, its chorus of ‘driving late at night, I bet you listen to the music you like’ simple and direct, and the lovely Buried Alive displays its maudlin yearning for illness and anxiety that brings one closer to their object of affection. Broken Toy is a perfect yin yang style track, its spark of happiness quickly quashed by a reality, and love only existing in adversity: ‘Cause you’re a broken toy it’s true/ but I am broken too’ and their sweet morbidity is encapsulated in the My Heart Beats that is somehow chilling and warming at the same time.
Unyieldingly sharp and sophisticated in their treatment of the simplest things, Veronica Falls do that rare thing of igniting happiness in despondency, although there is never a feeling of either outright depression or misery for its own sake. Perhaps lacking some immediacy of the debut, Waiting for Something to Happen is nonetheless not a ‘difficult second album’ but one that is striking, sharp tongued and full of ire – and utterly brilliant in that. Here’s to number three.