After receiving a series of emails from another group called "The Veldt," Arlington's Veldt recently decided to change their name to Prayer for Animals in order to avoid dealing with a cease and desist letter. No matter what they might be called, their songs reveal a group that is musically ambitious and potentially buzzworthy, given that they are already close (at an early stage in their existence) to finding a good formula for a sound lying somewhere in between loose psychedelic experimentation and dark indie pop.

Prayer for Animals, formed in 2005, is headquartered at their group house in Arlington where they write songs that have a good deal of range in composition and style, despite possessing what can be classified as the beginning of a "sound" in its early stages. The most obvious reference points here are Brian Jonestown Massacre and Matador Records' The Double, but you can also hear touches of Radiohead, Television Personalities and the excellent Circulatory System. The fun of listening to this band derives not from their influences, however, but from their ability to diversify, letting strange folksy guitar plucking turn into moody, ethereal noise and blues-based psyche rock. Although certainly a young band still searching for its musical path to a degree, Prayer for Animals is well on its way to nailing down something interesting, even if its not entirely clear which direction they will take. And that is exactly what makes them worthy of some attention.

Prayer for Animals plays Saturday at the Darkside Lounge.

Some Mp3s if you please (and really, listen to all three because they are all pretty different)

"The Tale of the Yellow Spider" Link
"The Great Plains" Link
"You're Never Gonna Die" Link

Thanks for the write up. They are a great band live, so try to catch them on Saturday for sure. That's what won me over & now they're on the Callithump roster. Good stuff.

If you are interested...the "actual" Veldt is from North Carolina, I think. They also go by the name Apollo Heights (THEY HAVE A MYSPACE PAGE UNDER THAT NAME}. Also, I think they were in Rolling Stone in 1994.

But has anybody heard of 'em since?
The answer is yes. Us.

Thanks for the prose, sir.

OUR PRAYERS ARE WITH YOU.

pfa

Here! Here! Seen this band all over Dallas the past few months. Good stuff.