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ESSENTIAL NEW MUSIC

Essential New Music: Veruca Salt’s “Ghost Notes”

VerucaSalt

Quick recap: Hell finally froze over, and someone convinced Louise Post and Nina Gordon to start talking and writing together again. The reward is 14 loudquietloud—and sometimes just plain loud—tracks from the newly reunited O.G. lineup of Veruca Salt. Ghost Notes also reteams the band with American Thighs producer Brad Wood, who … hasn’t changed one bit in two decades, either. Defiantly retro throwbacks like “Black And Blonde” and “The Museum Of Broken Relationships” further the notion of a band in stasis.

And, yet, it all sounds minty fresh in a modern context because that odd mix of Post/Gordon harmonies and cock-rock swagger is unique to Veruca Salt and remains a semi-undervalued commodity. Plus, those hooks! Even the outliers, like “Eyes On You” (which recalls Gordon’s solo pop phase) and the meandering six-minute closer, “Alternica,” are super catchy. As comebacks go, it’s perfect.

—Nick Green