album: Veil - The Tissues

words: Justin Scholz

After many shows in the saturated landscape of LA and working seriously hard at perfecting their talents, The Tissues have birthed their debut LP, Veil in true DIY fashion: no label, all self funded and promoted by local friends, dj's & venues who know good music when it's blasted in their face. The dream scream band is founded and fronted by poet/author/ on-stage screamer Kristine Nevrose, guitarist Jerry Narrows (both of the former shoegaze/post punk LA band Flaamingos), Bianca Ayala on bass slappin' duties and Colette Arenas who pounds those drums like they did her wrong in a past life.

The album opener "Red light" grabs you with the essence of the early post punk days of yore, but in a style that you don’t often see represented in LA. Narrows's guitar work in the first 25 seconds tells you to get comfortable and pay attention while Nevrose whispers to bring you, before manically screaming to draw you even closer This theme holds true throughout its entirety while keeping each successive song an individual experience. These are love songs about a type of love that has yet to be defined or realized. Listening to the song "Time Travel" at the right time of day will make you feel like you're in a noir film stuck in fast forward. Influenced by bands like Pylon, Pixies, The Make-up and countless others, the lineage is left there for you to figure out. I find their sound reminiscent of the relatively unknown (in the US) and obscure The Victorian English Gentlemen's Club; instrumentally more than vocally.

Produced by Duane Burda and mastered by Narrows with input from the entire band, many hours of love were clocked in the making of Veil. Arenas recently said "It was just as hard as it was easy writing this record", which reinforces their dedication to their vision. Album artwork was done by Bianca in true DIY fashion. This is a polished listen without unnecessary overproduction.