Song of the Day: Veronica Falls - My Heart Beats

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. Today’s song, featured on the Midday Show with Cheryl Waters, is “My Heart Beats” by Veronica Falls, from the 2013 album Waiting For Something To Happen on Slumberland.

Veronica Falls - My Heart Beats (MP3)

Formed in 2009 when singer/guitarists Roxanne Clifford and James Hoare met drummer Patrick Doyle at a Comet Gain show, Veronica Falls’ C86-infused jangle pop is equally fitting to soundtrack both sunshine and rain. After adding bassist Marion Herbain, the quartet had cut a pair of 7″s for Captured Tracks a year later, and their full length debut was released the following fall, containing 12 tracks of melancholy-tinged pop tunes that exploded through their Rickenbackers. Originally released as a standalone single in 2012, "My Heart Beats" eventually found its way onto the group's sophomore effort, Waiting For Something Happen. Romantic and melancholy in a gazing-out-your-window-longingly kinda way, "My Heart Beats" injects a level of urgency into the band's C86 jangle. Clifford's high-range vocal flows effortlessly with Hoare's deeper croon, forming a potent boy/girl harmony that transforms the song's final lyric - "Our hearts beat so slowly/our hearts beat on and on" - from a self-sympathetic one to a triumphant celebration of being together alone. "My Heart Beats" is a little more muscular - especially in the rhythm section - than the rest of the album's tunes, but Clifford's delicate, impassioned delivery gives the song a certain grace that suits the song's themes, and shows that despite their penchant for bittersweetness, Veronica Falls can be strong-willed and optimistic too.

Veronica Falls don't have any North American tour dates listed at the moment, but you can keep an eye on their website and Facebook to hear about any future shows first. In the meantime, you can listen to their March 2013 KEXP session here, and watch the band play "My Heart Beats" live in KEXP in 2012.