Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
"All of the band's considerable gifts take a victory lap on the disc's closer, the nine-minute whisper-to-a-muted-scream emo dream pop of 'Slow Fly', a song that, much like the rest of the album, hangs in the air like a melancholy mist." - Harp
"Leisurely strummed guitars, a weepy violin, sweet'n'sour coed harmonies... almost every song has a chorus that will get stuck in your head." - Mundane Sounds
"The long-awaited debut from this Boston quintet lives up to it's advance promise/billing.... These guys/girl may have taken their sweet time, but they sure got it right as a result. I Listen is a bit of a deceptive stormer." - The Big Takeover
"Verona Downs is in many respects an outstanding unit. Their day dreamingly soft-around-the-edges Nuevo-Goth-cum-psychedelia is very appealing. Almost breath-taking melodies are yoked to resonant ensemble instrumentals which are sometimes almost profoundly evocative... I suspect this band is all but guaranteed to go places." - The Noise
"'I Listen Thru All the Breaking Oceans' is really a masterpiece of local rock. Verona Downs knows how to sing, how to play their instruments, how to use their effects, how to write good songs, how to set a mood in those songs... basically they just know how to work it." - Northeast Performer
Discography
FALL 06 FAMILY BED
08/06 THE LIGHT REACTION EP
01/04 I LISTEN THRU ALL THE BREAKING OCEANS
04/03 BLUE NOON CD SINGLE
05/02 FUZZ DEMO 2
04/00 FUZZ DEMO
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
Recently signed to Empyrean Records, The Light Reaction EP to be released this summer, Family Bed to follow.
Greg Jacobs started the group weeping in fits and starts in the early '90s, working with a revolving cast of musicians including Paula Kelley, Shawn Devlin (Helium), and Olivier Strauch (Instinct-era The Moles). In 1996 Ryan Veilleux answered an ad for a band looking for a "Motown meets My Bloody Valentine" kind of sound. While Ryan started out on bass, he soon was settling in on lead guitar, and the band started moving in a new direction. In 2000, after enlisting the solid beats of Michael Steigman, who they serendipitously met through a mutual friend who was a longtime fan of the band, the time for a name change was at hand, and Verona Downs was born. The band finally released its debut album, I Listen Thru All The Breaking Oceans in 2004, to wide critical acclaim. From the lush, dirge-y "Isn't That The Way" to the shimmering boy-girl pop of "Blue Noon," through the spacey yearning of "Feelers" and the lonely radiance of "Green Yellow Red," then ending with the robust nine-minute epic "Slow Fly," ILTATBO was a record that took listeners away and returned them nourished and altered. Shortly after the album and the departure of their former bassist/ backing vocalist, Lori Murphy, Verona Downs discovered ex-Permanent Vacation singer/songwriter from California, Meghan Barnes. The Verona men enlisted her on bass and back-up vocals, allowing the band to grow into a more fleshed-out and collaborative unit.
While strong enough to stand on its own, The Light Reaction EP is a glimpse of the brilliance that will be heard on Verona's upcoming highly anticipated concept album, Family Bed. Verona Downs seamlessly crosses styles and genres in order to express diverse shades. Influenced by the fluid sounds of today's underground, while staying rooted in the song-based visions of Elliott Smith, Neil Finn, or Grant Lee Buffalo, Verona's rewarding songs linger on long after the listening experience is over. The Family Bed title refers to the intricacies, trials, and experiences of both family life at home – including births, deaths, relationships and break-ups – as well as within the band itself, with its own intimate and family-like relationships, in the studio and on the stage.
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