Sometimes It’s hard to just exist within a heavy moment when your heart is feeling lost or confused. But it’s also one of the best times for the creative part of your mind to flow and that’s where the heart of VÉRITÉ’s sophomore record stems from.
‘New Skin’ is a record all about growth and reflects on love, loss and all of the in-between moments that see us facing those big changes and learning to become more confident within those sometimes insecure moments.
Opening with the atmospheric title track ‘New Skin’, the mostly acapella track purely introduces you into the sonical world that she’s created within this record. Showing a confidence in her vocals by making them the centrepiece of this track, confidence is a reoccurring theme throughout the record.
Pulsating with dark synths, ‘Good For It’, ‘Ocean’ and ‘Youth’ provide a moody first acquaintance to this record before she dives deeper into the albums themes and experimentation. On the early favourite ‘Youth’, she questions the process of love and heartbreak while reflecting on wasting her youth on someone for them to just walk away and never look back at her. It’s a great representation on how she portrays the theme in different ways and so bluntly too.
‘Body In My Bed’ is a track that immediately stands out from the collection with it’s very honest and bold songwriting. Admitting that something has changed in her relationship, she questions what has changed to make her partner feel like a stranger to her. “There’s a body in my bed. It breathes like you, dreams like you but it don’t feel like it used to”. It’s about losing that connection and just being on auto-pilot and not knowing what to do about it. The production is very dramatic and moody and floats between gritty beats and atmospheric synths.
Continuing that lyrical concept, ‘Faded’ picks up the production and experiments with a some different vocal deliveries and effects. “You got the same face I once loved but I don’t recognise your touch. It’s like we faded”. This is also one of the most similar sounding tracks to her ‘Somewhere In Between’ record.
Injecting some angst and power into her delivery, ‘Think Of Me’ is the break-up anthem you need in your life. It has a euphoric feeling of release as she just unloads everything she wants to say with a very dominating production driving the collective empowerment. “I hope you fuck her with your eyes closed. Put the shame off with some benzos. Swallow the feeling while you walk home and think of me always” she proclaims during the steamy chorus.
The importance of atmosphere is quite high within this record and the intoxicating ‘Medicine’ and the insecurity ridden ‘Gone’ hears her highlighting that through the contrasting production types.
From start to finish, ‘New Skin’ is a very captivating listen and combines all of the elements about VÉRITÉ’s artistry that you’ve fallen in love with over the years as well as shown an impressive growth as she experiments with her production, vocal and songwriting strengths.
Must Listens: ‘Think Of Me’, ‘Body In My Bed’, ‘Good For It’ and ‘Youth’