Velocity Girl was an American indie rock band formed in 1989 in College Park, Maryland, although it was generally known as a Washington, DC-area band. While much 1990s rock music featured an abrasive vocal and instrumental style, Velocity Girl's later sound was melodic and typically featured "clean" (non-distorted) electric guitar sounds. Thus, the group's music was closer to a "pop" than a "rock" aesthetic. Initailly however, Velocity Girl was playing with their shoegaze influences and on their first seven inches on slumberland and merge, as well as their first sup pop album "copacetic" they had a big wall-of-sound guitar style. Even then they perfectly blended My Bloody Valentine-like guitars with beautiful melodic vocals.
Like the Blake Babies, a Boston-based band from the same era, the group was fronted by a female singer ( Sarah Shannon) and featured both female and male vocals, sometimes simultaneously within a song. In the group's recordings, Shannon's voice had a light, airy quality with a slight vibrato, not a typical timbre for rock vocalists.
Velocity Girl released three recordings on the Sub Pop label and disbanded in 1996.
Archie Moore, guitar/bass/vocals Brian Nelson, guitar Kelly Riles, guitar/bass Sarah Shannon, vocals Jim Spellman, drums Bridget Cross, vocals (original)
