At 38, the likelihood of me attending a show that starts at a night time with two digits is pretty slim. So take it as a sign of VÉRITÉ’s absolutely haunting allure that I’ve purchased tickets to her Union Stage show, which starts at 10:30 p.m. Haunting is the first word I can think to describe her sound, but, in fact, most adjectives used to describe the 32-year-old indie artist’s music live in the land of fantasy. I’m certainly not the first to call her music haunting. NPR describes her as “spellbinding,” another outlet calls her voice “ethereal.” Her vocals, by turns breathy and then crystal clear, are captivating as she sings about heartbreak. Her music, an electronic edge on indie pop, is equally fantastical with soft beats, edgy pulses, and thumping rhythms. I’ve seen VÉRITÉ compared to Lana Del Rey, and there are certainly similarities, but where Lana gives classic Hollywood sad-girl vibes, VÉRITÉ offers a twinge of American Horror Story violence. On Twitter, she describes her latest album, love you forever, released Feb. 24, as “a record about loving someone so much, you murder them and drag their body into a lake.” In the first single, “are we done yet?,” VÉRITÉ manages to make that same lyric sound an awful lot like “Are we dying?” And the best line of the title track hits you in the gut: “But I can’t help that when you walk away/ It feels like violence.” The album, VÉRITÉ continues, is “the most literal interpretation of a world built to trace the chaotic process of grief and learning to let go.” It’s a breakup album for anyone whose sadness mingles with morbidity, and, honestly, it’s the perfect soundtrack for a late night show. VÉRITÉ plays at 10:30 p.m. on April 8 at Union Stage. unionstage.com. $22–$87.
VÉRITÉ
