With their thin, singsong vocals and fuzzed-out guitars,
Veruca Salt may sound like
the Breeders and
the Pixies, but lack either band's talent for inverting pop conventions or taste for the bizarre. What
Veruca Salt has instead is a raw talent for simple, infectious pop songs; the result is a surprisingly fresh fusion of alternative pop and bubblegum.
Nina Gordon and
Louise Post try hard to inject meaning into the sweet, distorted rush of "Seether," but all that sticks is the infectious melody and crushing guitars. That also applies to the slower songs, from the enchanting lust of "Spiderman '79" to "Forsythia," which is too close to
the Breeders'
Pod for comfort. But musically,
American Thighs is surprisingly satisfying; it's a pure pop album masquerading as the next big thing. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine