Vedera
The Weight Of An Empty Room (as Veda) (2005)
Meg Reinecker
While each song on Veda's release The Weight Of An Empty Room is similar enough to create an excellently cohesive album, each individual song exhibits its own special appeal. The subject matter varies, the intensity of the instruments varies, but one thing that does not falter is the mass appeal Veda exudes.
The Weight Of An Empty Room's first track "Trade This Fear" will give you a very accurate depiction of how powerful the entire album is. The song's first two lines, "Who is this darkness? Who is this illusive dreamer?" are bound to rummage their way into your head.
Vocalist Kristen May's powerful, haunting, colossal voice, reminiscent of Denali's Maura Davis, will immediately captivate any fan of female vocals. "Song For A Friend," the album's second track, exhibits her beautiful voice with nothing but light guitar work nearing the end of the track.
While May's beautiful voice should be enough to lure you into listening to this tremendous release, profound and emotional lyrics consistently appear in the likes of, "I would have liked a call outside of you calling out my faults."
The album's first fairly upbeat track, "Lover's Lie," insists that May would like to "put a sparkle in your eyes" and is simply 3 minutes of pure charm and grace in musical form, quite similiar to the appeal of track "It's All Happening On Broadway."
Following "Lover's Lie" lies "Desire On Repeat," the album's sexual, dreamy track which questions how a heart can be promised while it's still searching. "Desire On Repeat" offers a powerful chorus and clearly exists as one of the album's most standout tracks. Never before on the album have May's vocal talents been so eloquently displayed, except perhaps on the album's sixth track "In The Quiet."
Never before have I put in a CD from a fairly unknown band and been completely captivated. Through 13 songs and 50 minutes of music, Veda will prove to you that they've provided the scene with one of 2005's best albums.