MEDIA MONDAYS: GHOST NOTES REVIEW.

I can't put into words what Veruca Salt mean to me. Unlike a lot of the music I listened to in my teens, the older I get, the more relevant their music is to me. They are the reason I persevered with guitar. Louise Post and Nina Gordon have been my idols most of my life.

Being a fan of a defunct band comes with a price though: you know you will never see them live and they will never produce new music. At least not together - Post went on to make two more albums under the Veruca Salt moniker with a new line-up and Gordon produced two solo albums. Neither had the success or sonic perfection they did when working together. So when,

"for now let's just say this: hatchets buried, axes exhumed"

appeared on their Facebook page two years ago, I barely believe it was actually happening. But when other bands got back together, they never toured Australia and they rarely released new tracks so I was hesitant. When both of those things happened, I truly never thought I could be happier. I screamed the day their Australian tour was announced. Seeing them live last September was a surreal, magical experience.

When Ghost Notes was announced I was torn between the fear that they wouldn't be able to recapture the atmospheric beauty of the first two albums (and copious amounts of EPs and b-sides I've obsessively collected over the years), even having already heard two amazing tracks: It's Holy and The Museum of Broken Relationships.

Jubilation - he loves me again / Halala I don't care

I'm an idiot. A happy idiot.

Despite it being eighteen years since Eight Arms To Hold You was released, they haven't skipped a beat. The guitars, the harmonies, it's all still perfect. It could've been released two years after their last album and you wouldn't know any different - except perhaps for the themes.This is a break-up album with a difference and it was worth the wait.

The opener - The Gospel According to Saint Me (above) - starts gritty and deep, sounding like it could be another track on American Thighs, before breaking into a heavy rejoice of the bands return. It's gonna get loud, it's gonna get heavy. And it does, the grungy guitars rarely letting up across the fourteen tracks. Black and Blonde (a reworking of b-side from Gordon's solo career) is hard-hitting as the original with better structure and an apologetic, harmonic bridge. Prince of Wales, the first slower point on the album, is a dreamy and restrained display with it's steady bass and delicate harmonies. 

The popier tracks, while thoroughly enjoyable, are the weakpoints of the album (yes I can be an objective fangirl). Eyes On You and Love You Less feel a little forumalic and lack some of beefiness and honesty of other tracks. 

Lead single, Laughing In The Sugar Bowl (above), is head-bangingly danceable (and don't think that I didn't). It's clever, defiant tracks like this that bring fans to the band, but they stay for what follows. That midpoint is where the album really opens up. Empty Bottle is epic, cruising through gentle verses before a window smashing chorus and almost heart-breaking bridge. Plus how many songs successfully use the word haemophilliac? 

Love is over, it's over and you can't go back

When you're older you just keep telling yourself that

There's a definite theme to the album, and it's understandable. While it's notable across the whole album, I'm Telling You Now, Triage and Lost To Me have a painful honesty to them, clearly stating that the gap has been bridged but not without some anger and tears over the years. Anybody who's been through a relationship breakdown will feel it in their bones - the loss and regret. The closing track Alternica left me in tears on my couch. Veruca Salt albums have always had big closing tracks (where's my lip gloss...) but this is something else. This is sonic perfection and I couldn't have asked for more. (Plus there's some bonus backing vocals from Letters to Cleo frontwoman, Kay Hanley.)

Where Post and Gordon had previously written songs separately and been quite precious about their individual work, their new-found collaborative nature says all the things left unsaid, as boldly as ever. They complement each other so completely and their joy at reconnecting is apparent in the music and watching them perform together. Even if you're not a fan, this is worth a listen for those who miss real women of rock.

She's the flame and I'm the glow

Must listens: the whole damn thing

Rating: 5 (I'm not that objective)

Okay, seriously listen to Triage, Alternica and Laughing In The Sugar Bowl.

Ghost Notes is available from 10 July 2015. iTunes | Amazon | Spotify

Fellow Aussies! Ghost Notes can be found at JB Hi-Fi and Sanity.

Veruca Salt are currently touring in the US and Canada.

Follow them on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube