Velocity Girl

Velocity Girl was an American indie rock band formed in 1989 in College Park, Maryland. 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. Initially however, Velocity Girl was playing with their shoegaze influences and on their first seven inches on Slumberland and Merge, as well as their first Sub Pop album “Copacetic”.

The group was fronted by a female singer (Sarah Shannon) (original lead singer Bridget Cross left to join Unrest) and featured both female and male vocals, sometimes simultaneously. In the group’s recordings, Shannon’s voice had a light, airy quality with a slight vibrato.

The band took its name from a Primal Scream B-side.

Velocity Girl released three recordings on the Sub Pop label, Copacetic (1993), Simpatico (1994), and Gilded Stars and Zealous Hearts (1996). Velocity Girl disbanded in October 1996 (although a reunion show was played in 2002 to benefit original singer Cross). Sarah Shannon, Kelly Riles and Jim Spellman reunited in a short-lived project called Starry Eyes which released a single EP Starry Eyes (1997, Radiopaque).

Guitarist Archie Moore went on to form The Heartworms and The Saturday People.

Sarah Shannon currently (2002-2007) records as a solo artist.