Back in 2007, I caught Bad Veins play a live broadcast for WOXY in New York during CMJ. My recollection is deceiving me — I was under the impression that their music was a bit louder and crazier. Their self-titled LP opens with “Found”, a song that champions melody and clever instrumentation. It contrasts sharply with the following track, “Gold And Warm”, which sounds ripe for popular radio. Still, I can see a lot of people going crazy over both tracks.

These sounds vary back and fourth throughout Bad Veins, though to my pleasure they tend to follow the first track more than the second. To tell you the truth, I’m pretty stoked about that first track. “Found” features some great elements — plenty of horns backed by a consistent, snare-heavy percussion and emotive, poetic vocals. Half-way through the song, the percussion drops to feature a horn meets strings bridge. And when the vocals and percussion return… well, let’s just say it doesn’t get much better than this. At least, until you get to the wild breakdown in “Crosseyed”.

Bad Veins’ self-titled LP comes out July 21 on Dangerbird Records.

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