Verma's Vamping Psych-Rock Vanquishes Contemporaries

By Jon Graef in Arts & Entertainment on Oct 12, 2010 9:00PM

Of the many burgeoning Chicago bands dabbling in a hypnotic mix of garage-rock, German art-rock and shoegaze—think Cave, Disappears, Implodes, etc—local quintet Verma is simply amongst the most promising. In May, Verma, consisting of members of past Chicago experimental groups like Remember The Maine, dropped a self-titled three-song EP through their Bandcamp. The Verma EP showcased the band’s considerable ability to throw down the rock gauntlet. Tracks like the taut “Salted Earth,” with its propulsive bass line, and floating synth textures—which complement the female vocals quite well—are crisp and clear; artistic, but with enough melodic sensibility to appeal to listeners whose patience would be tested by the lengthy songs.

By contrast, their debut cassette for Plustapes—also self-titled, confusingly enough—pushes the group’s capacity for weaving hallucinatory sonic tapestries even further. Nothing on the Verma cassette is quite as foreboding as the dark, Middle East-evoking psych-rock of the Verma EP's “Unending Night.” The band’s decision to record an entirely instrumental album, however, nonetheless introduces dizzying new textures into their psych-rock sonic vocabulary. Recording directly to tape during practices at Verma’s rehearsal space, the Verma cassette breathes enough to allow the group to focus on dread-inducing ambient textures. (Exhibit A: the slowly building whirls of tape opener “Dust Commander”).

But even if hazy mood pieces like “Sarvanasa” or “Exu” feel like soundtracks for inducing altered states of consciousness, that doesn’t mean that the band stops lathering on the rock sauce. Rather, it means that they introduce a different route to larger-than-life tracks like “Coyote,” which takes Sabbath-influenced riffs and throws them into a lo-fit blender. The result is an epic slow burn headbanger that is easily the Verma cassette’s centerpiece.

Listen for yourself: You can download two sample tracks over at Verma’s Bandcamp, as well as the entire Verma EP, for free. If you’re hesitant to jump on the cassette revival bandwagon, this is the tape to go with. The people at Plustapes have thoughtfully included a digital download code with the release.

The Eternals, Verma and Great Society Mind Destroyers play Monday, Oct. 18th at the Whistler, 2421 N Milwaukee, 9:00 pm, 21+, FREE