This past Thursday, the West Coast was given a gift of epic proportions. The Veronicas, Australia’s superstar female twin pop duo, performed a one-night only exclusive event at The Viper Room in Los Angeles to showcase songs from their eagerly anticipated upcoming album.
Best known in the United States for their singles “Untouched” and “4Ever,” The Veronicas played to a sold out crowd of fans dying for a taste of the girls’ new material.
While I was unable to attend the show (due to a rude case of “I live in New York and can’t afford airfare”), watching fan videos posted online after the concert got me hyped for the new record in borderline unhealthy ways.
The Veronicas slay harmonies unlike any other pop act currently out there. The first time I heard them sing live (with their AOL Sessions acoustic version of “Heavily Broken”), I was literally reaching for Q-Tips to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating what I was hearing.
Lisa and Jess’ voices blend like your two favorite desserts coming together to create one ultimate sweet indulgence that makes everything else you’ve ever tasted seem completely flavorless. Just listen to the stripped-down version of “Untouched.” Upon first hearing the key change in that song, I actually thought I was going to need to be pushed to the top of the heart donor recipient list.
In “Let Me Out,” one of the new (and my personal favorite) tracks that was debuted at The Viper Room, the girls’ unmatched harmony skills take front and center. “I’m making it easy for you to go leave me, just let me out,” they sing. As Lisa croons the song’s high melody, she is accompanied by Jess’ sultry alto harmony – creating an emotionally charged chorus that snips your heartstrings in half.
Lisa’s vocals carry the pained lyrics of the song with raw pleas of desperation. You don’t even need to listen to the words of the song to hear the hurt in her voice and know that she’s singing about unrequited love. And as Lisa tugs at your tearducts, Jess strums along on the acoustic guitar before seamlessly jumping up an octave and taking over the chorus of what is the girls’ most vulnerable song to date.
Sidenote about Jess: She’s pretty much the most bad-ass chick in the game. With her slicked back new platinum hairdo and elegant little black dress tightly pressed against her slender, tattooed-all-over body, she’s a bonafide supermodel. Specifically, the hardcore type of femme fatale supermodel from a Bret Easton Ellis novel with an unquenchable thirst for danger. She’s friends with Courtney Love and is dating Billy Corgan from The Smashing Pumpkins. She’s the petite girl with lungs of steel that can do anything from belt gorgeous mezzo-soprano notes to emo-scream like she’s starting an Atreyu cover band. So naturally, she’s the one with the electric guitar strapped across her chest.
The Veronicas also premiered “Cold,” the song that Lisa stated was “probably our favorite song we’ve ever written.” The lyrics, the girls described, were born out of a writing exercise in which they wrote monologues to their ex-lovers. The result is a song that mixes sorrow and anger in an almost scarily spot-on way.
The verses of “Cold” are comprised of rhythmic spoken-word (similar to the Hook Me Up bonus track, “Insomnia”) before unleashing into a soaring rock chorus that evokes memories of early Evanescence. “And I’m dying here and I’m crying over you and I remember, but now you make me shiver, you’re so cold,” the girls sing over the song’s dark instrumentation.
Other songs that The Veronicas debuted included the upbeat “Dead Cool,” a track that could have easily fit on Muse’s latest album. “Baby, I’m Ready” blurs the line between pop and grunge rock that the girls have been dancing on since the release of their debut album. Between its catchy chorus and pop/rock instrumentation, “My Best Mistake” might be the radio smash the girls need to permanently break the American market in the way they deserve. And their flawless cover of Sonny & Cher’s “Bang Bang” revitalizes an otherwise cheesy song into a twisted and contemporary anthem of betrayal.
While a release date for the album has yet to be set, the fact that The Veronicas are starting to perform songs off of it gives me hope that the wait won’t be much longer. But in the meantime, I’m praying to all things holy and Australian that the girls will decide to do a showcase of the new material in New York. And soon.
Judging by the lyrical content of the songs premiered at The Viper Room, I think it’s a pretty safe assumption to say that The Veronicas have one explosive breakup album on the horizon. And if these songs prove anything, it’s that hell hath no fury like a Veronica scorned.