VÉRITÉ - Somewhere In Between

VÉRITÉ first blew everyone’s socks off with a cover of The 1975’s ‘Somebody Else,’ charging Matty Healy’s morose synthy original with a propulsive, unexpected twist. In the bangers that followed - ‘Phase Me Out’ and ‘When You’re Gone’ - the New York power-pop purveyor continued to put her own spin on something that’s admittedly been done before, plenty of times over. Emotive, inward-looking slices of infectious, creative pop, the roll-call for VÉRITÉ’s debut proper - boasting the likes of Liam Howe (Lana del Rey, Ellie Goulding, fka twigs), Tim Anderson (Solange), Peter Thomas (Selena Gomez, Betty Who) - looked hugely promising, too.

It’s a bit of a shame, then, that beyond its prime moments of brilliance, ‘Somewhere In Between’ all falls a bit flat; borrowing its euphoric vocal hooks from Banks and MØ, and reliant on the same fist-clenching flicks of production, and the same predictable synth pulses we’ve heard a million times over. This first full-length does have its moments; notably in VÉRITÉ’s existing massive singles, and the doom-beckoning ‘Death of Me,’ but elsewhere, this album offers little in the way of surprise. d Well, true to name, this is ‘Somewhere In Between’.