POP MUSIC REVIEW : Velocity Girl: The Beat Drones On

Washington’s Velocity Girl plays cute and fuzzy noise-pop that attracts the more wistful of indie-music fans, who eat up its sound the way a kid does cotton candy. The quintet is one of many watered-down Jesus and Mary Chain disciples who pit waif-like female vocals against guitar feedback but downplay experimentation in favor of a palatability.

On Friday at the Whisky, the ineffectual nature of the band’s sound was intensified by a weak delivery devoid of personality. Without any studio veneer, Velocity Girl’s songs emerged as cookie-cutter and formulaic. There were no unique moments in the repetitive rhythms to hook you--which didn’t seem to diminish the enthusiasm of the capacity audience.

Singer Sarah Shannon’s voice went from flat to flatter as she cooed girlish highs that might have been cute from a 4-year-old but were sickeningly sweet from a grown woman. She hopped around in a flowery frock, throwing her body around like a rag doll while the four instrumentalists adopted college rock’s obligatory “I’m bored” look.

For an encore, the group transformed New Order’s delicately sad “Your Silent Face” into a lifeless guitar drone. Like sugary sister band Frente, which slaughtered a New Order song on its recent album, Velocity Girl turned a masterpiece into a stick figure. This group couldn’t make even a great song fly.