Release Radar: Velocity Girl 'Incidentals'

On their latest EP, Velocity Girl have unearthed another batch of indie pop gems.

We don’t run ads here. On Repeat is made entirely possible through the support of our paid supporters. You can back independent ad-free music journalism for less than $1 a week.

Good Morning!

Today we’re listening to Velocity Girl’s Incidentals EP

---

New Velocity Girl music is always a reason to celebrate! 

‘90s indie darlings (and On Repeat favorites) Velocity Girl reformed last year, played a couple of shows, and hinted that some new music was in the offing.

Vocalist Sarah Shannon kicked things off last summer with her Demo ‘98 EP of solo tracks. In September, we were gifted Setting the Night on Fire with Rock and Roll, an EP the band described as the first in a series of archival recordings, and teasing more alternate takes, unreleased originals, and a few covers, as well as the previously released mixes. Proceeds from that EP went to the DC area non-profit We Are Family DC. 

Fast-forward to a couple of weeks ago, when the band teased that more tracks were in the offing before releasing Incidentals, a digital EP, this past Friday. 

This latest release has three tracks originally written and recorded as part of a 2002 reunion benefit for original singer Bridget Cross and two live tracks from the benefit show itself. 

From the Band: 

“In 2002, about five years after breaking up, Velocity Girl reunited to play a benefit show to help out former bandmate Bridget Cross with some legal expenses. The show was recorded, and we had such a good time that we kept the reunion going for a few more months, booking another Black Cat show a few months later. We’d come up with three new songs to play for the benefit, and recorded them a few months later at Omega Studios, where Archie worked and the band rehearsed. We pretty much forgot about this stuff for twenty-plus years, at least partially because it was assumed that the digital recordings were lost or deleted. The ProTools sessions were found a few months ago on an old hard drive and some data tapes and, to our surprise, we liked what we heard.”

Opener ‘It’s Alright By Me’ is more of the straightforward, uptempo college rock the band is known for, and very much in the vein of ‘Sorry Again,’ with Sarah Shannon holding the center as the music swirls around her. It was originally online as a free MP3 download in 2006 before disappearing back into the ether. And were those bells I heard at the start? 

Things slow down a bit with  the woozy ‘Incidental Guitar.’ It’s the sort of track that might’ve found a home on 1993’s Copacetic.

With Shannon’s bright vocals, some fuzzed-out guitars, and a fun keyboard riff, ‘Starter Guitar’ is the happy medium between the two.  The EP also includes live recordings of ‘Sorry Again’ and ‘Pop Loser’ from the concert.

Bottom line: All five tracks have been newly mixed by band member Archie Moore and sound as fresh as ever. Here’s hoping they find more material thought lost forever. 

---

---

Listen:

Velocity Girl | Incidentals, 2024

Click the record to listen on Bandcamp

As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts on this record!

---

Thanks for being here,

Kevin—