Washington's Black Tambourine was fronted by vocalist Pam Berry and featured Whorl's Mike Schulman and Brian Nelson. They played British-inspired shoegaze-pop ditties that were later compiled on Black Tambourine (Slumberland, 2010). Archie Moore and Brian Nelson then formed Velocity Girl.

Velocity Girl were among the "spokesbands" of lo-fi pop when it did not yet have that name. In effect, they functioned as a bridge between the noise rock of Sonic Youth and the alt-country of Uncle Tupelo at a time when college rock still reigned. They therefore provided a synthesis of their era, and did so without sacrificing too much of the lyrical dimension.

The group formed in Silver Spring, Maryland, from the ashes of Big Jesus Trashcan. Archie Moore (guitar), Kelly Ryles (bass), Brian Nelson (guitar), a drummer, and a singer recorded the singles Clock (Slumberland) and I Don't Care If You Go, both with Bridget Cross on vocals (later of Unrest), and especially My Forgotten Favorite, a melodic tune supported by strong guitar noise, produced in a deliberately amateur fashion, which quickly became an alternative-circuit bestseller.

The early recordings were collected on the EP Velocity Girl (Slumberland, 1993). The defining traits of those songs were two: Sarah Shannon�s soprano, capable of ranging from the delicate experimentation of Elizabeth Fraser (Cocteau Twins) to the fierce soul register of Sin�ad O�Connor, and the guitar harmonies, which drew on an almost inexhaustible arsenal of distortion, arpeggios, tremolo and assorted effects in the tradition of British shoegaze. The pairing of the first�s Renaissance-like vocal trills with the second�s dissonant turbulence formed the essence of their songs.

That dissonant, deliberately amateur pop was consecrated by the album Copacetic (SubPop, 1993), an almost archetypal exercise in wrapping a shroud of guitar �textures� and jagged rhythms around an appealing melody. The new hit is Crazy Town, an effervescent guitar nursery rhyme accompanied by soul-like vocal melismas, with a swaying motion suited for dancing. The idea is even catchy in Pop Loser. The standout track, however, is Pretty Sister, where the contrast between the ornate vocal line and the instrumental devastation produces a breathtaking sequence of pauses and explosions.

What works best, however, is the evocative quality of Shannon�s strange and seductive singing, which in A Chang is allowed to soar in its highest soprano register over a cloud of filthy riffs, and in the dreamlike atmosphere of Here Comes she intones a trance-like Velvet Underground-style lullaby.
The cacophonous tornado in the vein of Sister Ray in Living Well and the distorted round-dance of 57 Waltz represent the more violent side of their art, culminating in the experimental peak of Catching Squirrels, a sort of White Rabbit with Shannon in place of Slick but following a similar hypnotic circular motion. The noisy (and rough-hewn) apex is the instrumental Candy Apples, played as if it were a warped tape.

The sparkling teenage pop of Audrey's Eyes is in fact the only case in which Velocity Girl adhere to genre conventions: in general, what stands out in their work is not the instrumental noise but Shannon�s perfectly tuned voice. That voice is often pushed into the background, behind instrumental disorder, completely detached from it, barely perceptible, almost unsettling in its timbral perfection.

Simpatico (Subpop, 1994) is a far more musical work, though perhaps less �anthemic�: it brings that harmonic system to maturity, privileging melody over the youthful, irreverent spirit of the first album. In There's Only One Thing Left To Say Velocity Girl recall the exuberant little songs of Belly; in Tripping Wires it feels like a soft 1950s Broadway aria; in I Can't Stop Smiling the ethereal vocal harmonies of the Mamas & the Papas; and in Rubble the carefree romanticism of Dusty Springfield.

Not everything is so straightforward: from the tragic interlude of Drug Girls to Labrador, which returns to the ecstatic tones of the first album; from The All-Consumer, a ballad that Juliana Hatfield might have written; to the nocturnal jazz of Hey You Get Off My Moon, worthy of Rickie Lee Jones�the band shows many possible directions for its future.
The role of the guitar is now central: its trance-like strumming gives those songs their originality, its riffs dictate the main melody. Sorry Again, suitable for mass radio play, represents the perfection of that pop method. In a sense, what suffers is the singing, which is no longer the protagonist but merely a vehicle for the melodies. A more professional record that hits all its targets, Simpatico sounds like the album of a future AOR promise rather than an alternative band. It marks both a clear improvement and a partial betrayal.

Continuing along that trajectory, Velocity Girl became fully mature with Gilded Stars And Zealous Hearts (SubPop, 1996), an album performed from a more adult and traditional perspective. The pop of Gilded Stars and Zealous Heart sounds grand and stately. The playful spirit of earlier days briefly resurfaces in Finest Hour and Go Coastal, but is soon submerged by increasingly pompous songs.

The catchiest chorus, that of Nothing, has the flavor of a country elegy, and not by chance: the entire album feels like a return to roots, a late-life reconsideration, which the vocal harmonies of Just Like That and It's Not For You project into a domestic and rural world, far removed from punk neighborhoods.

Meanwhile, guitarist Archie Moore formed the Heartworms. Drummer Jim Spellman, singer Sarah Shannon and bassist Kelly Ryles formed the Starry Eyes in Seattle.

Archie Moore resurfaced on bass with the Saturday People (Slumberland, 2001), a project led by singer-guitarists Terry Banks and Greg Pavlovcak.

Sarah Shannon's solo albums, Sarah Shannon (Casa, 2002) and City Morning Song (2007), saw the Velocity Girl singer turning to soft pop-soul a` la Burt Bacharach (I'll Fly Away).