-=- SHGZ -=-
* Shoegaze * Indie * Post-rock * Grunge * Dream Pop * Ambient * Ethereal *
Artist..: Valet
Album...: Nature
GENRE....: Indie
STYLE....: Shoegaze, Ethereal
LABEL....: Kranky SCENE.....: 2015-12-27
BITRATE..: 244 kbps avg STORE.....: 2015-00-00
ENCODER..: LAME 3.98.4 -V0 TRACKS....: 8
SIZE.....: 62.93MB SOURCE....: CD
URL..: http://www.kranky.net/artists/valet.html
- TRACKLIST
1 Sunday 5:04
2 Nature 4:18
3 Signs 4:18
4 Lion 4:10
5 Nowhere 4:09
6 Clouds 4:08
7 Transformation 3:59
8 Child 5:53
Total Playtime: 35:59
http://www.discogs.com/Valet-Nature/release/7094124
Matrix/Runout: KRANK195 2699191 01 (see matrix.jpg)
*
Initially a solo project for Portland-based musician Honey Owens, Valet
explored territory that was not far afield from the singer's work in spooky,
experimental-minded groups like Jackie-O Motherfucker. The project released
two full-lengths on venerable zone-out institution, Kranky, and also an EP on
Mexican Summer before disappearing from view in the late 2000s.
Since 2010, Owens and her partner, Rafael Fauria, have focused on creating
hardware-driven psychedelic house music under the name Miracles Club,
releasing a number of EPs on labels like Ecstasy and Mexican Summer. However,
following the birth of their first child in 2013, the pair felt compelled to
temporarily step away from club sounds. Rather than release the resulting
mellower guitar-driven music as Miracles Club, Owens decided to resurrect
Valet, only this time as a group, featuring Fauria and multi-instrumentalist
Mark Burden. The result is Nature, ValetÆs first record in seven years.
A lot has changed. Previous Valet albums were song-driven, but much more
abstract in their execution. The music was centered on OwensÆ voice, but also
readily wandered into extended space-outsùabstract doodles, warped guitar
leads, and repetitive psychedelic loops. The music was gentle, but the
improvisational disorder conveyed a certain amount of menace and discomfort.
Nature is more focused and more serene. Both the melodic content and
production style suggest that Owens and Fauria have been revisiting '90s
psych and space-rock staples like Slowdive, Spiritualized, and the Verve (A
Storm in Heaven-era Verve, at least). Those bands relied heavily on studio
time and technology to generate a distinctively gauzy vibeùleaning heavily on
reverb, delay, and lots of guitar overdubs. On Nature, Valet turns to similar
sounds, but on a stricter budget. Much like Kranky-era Deerhunter and Atlas
Sound (Owens was a touring member of that band), the group uses readily
available resourcesùfoot pedals, computer-based recording software, digital
plug-insùto dial in otherworldly ambience. It sounds DIY, but in a way that
strengthens the recordÆs character and allows some distance from its
influences.
What really separates this most recent incarnation of Valet from the shoegaze
records of yesteryear, though, is the songwriting. Old-school space rock
bands were very concerned with transcending or escaping oneÆs physical
selfùrevisit RideÆs "Leave Them All Behind", the VerveÆs "Slide Away", or
just about any Spiritualized song. On Nature, OwensÆ lyrics tend to involve
memory and personal upheaval, rather than altered states. "Twelve different
ways to put up a fight/ Upside down police cars under fire bridges," she
sings on the recordÆs title track, which alternately recalls experiences with
civil unrest, 40s, and LSD. For such a trippy, reverb-drenched, and ethereal
set of songs, Nature is surprisingly intimate and reflective.
Nature does deliver the psych-rock goods, though. The trioÆs songs impart a
feeling of ascensionùwith murky atmosphere giving way to nodding repetition
and guitar-driven uplift. Like their peers and forebears, Valet create simple
music that feels expansive. Only here, the swirl of fuzz and echo isn't an
exit from terrestrial woes, just a comfortable place to take stock for a
moment.
*
In a recent interview with FACT magazine, ValetÆs Honey Owens was asked about
any interesting instruments that might have been used in the making of
Nature. Her answer was kind of funny, but also revealing:
ôWe got really obsessed with tambourine. And I was releasing after the fact
how important tambourine has been in the history of music. ItÆs just
something thatÆs there and youÆre like, æyeah, the tambourine,Æ or whatever.
But you donÆt notice it until you start really focusing on tambourine in your
own music, how thereÆs tambourine in all your favorite songs û pop songs or
rock songs. æHow did I miss the tambourine this far?Æö
True to that observation, the tambourine on Nature is similarly sly. Its
presence is not entirely obvious until it has been pointed out, but once it
has you realize that, yes, there it is shaking away all through
ôTransformationö, and tapping out the measures on ôSignsö. ValetÆs first
album in seven years isnÆt overly beholden to the history of music that Owens
was speaking of, but it was made with a measure of appreciation not just for
the sound of their influences, but for how those sounds were achieved. Being
a largely homegrown project, though, Valet didnÆt have access to the same
type of generous studio environments that gestated the kinds of records û the
usual æ90s shoegaze suspects û that Nature takes its most overt cues from.
That is one of the subtle differences that distinguishes Nature from the rest
of the neo-shoegaze variety pack. It echoes the original era not because
Valet painstakingly assembled all of the right gear (though maybe they have a
few of the same pedals laying around), but because theyÆve captured something
less tangible about the original versionÆs vibe. The infinitely drifting
opening guitar chords of ôSundayö and the weightless, tangerine-hued ôLionö
evoke a certain feeling more than they directly reflect this-or-that Slowdive
track. Valet also arenÆt merely copping delay settings from the Thames Valley
lot, theyÆre steeped in influences that those groups revered as well. The
results are songs like ôSignsö, which weds the Velvet UndergroundÆs
proto-drone with the kind of shoebox diorama psychedelia that artists like
Jacco Gardner do so well.
A couple of years after releasing the hallucinogenic and exploratory Naked
Acid in 2008, Owens set Valet aside to pursue acid-tinged house music with
her partner Rafael Fauria as The Miracles Club. The story behind Nature is
that, after the birth of their child in 2013, Owens began writing a
collection of guitar-centered songs that were much mellower in tone than the
club-suited sounds her and Fauria had until then been focusing on. Thus, the
re-birth of a kinder, gentler, more concise Valet; one that includes Fauria
as well as drummer Mark Burden, who had previously collaborated on a few
tracks with Owens on Naked Acid.
Nature isnÆt an obvious æparenthoodÆ record, but the connection between Owens
subconsciously gravitating toward tidier, mellower arrangements and raising
her first kid would seem clear enough: babies are exhausting. They also,
hopefully, go to bed early, so you have to keep it down after a certain hour.
It might be interesting to see how a æparent lifeÆ influence might evolve
across further Valet albums, as it has, for instance, throughout Julie
DoironÆs music. Even if Owens ends up retiring the project again, Nature
stands a good chance of being one of those great one-off records fans still
talk about years down the road.
*
More often than not, it is difficult for established artists to expand their
sound and try something different. Even more difficult is to succeed at that
change. The best draw off of past experiences. They use their knowledge to
influence and guide their new creation. For Honey Owens and her partner
Rafael Fauria, artistic endeavours shifted with the birth of their child.
After spending six years traversing the sounds of "psychedelic house music"
as Miracles Club, the pair revived their moniker Valet. They brought in
drummer/bassist/keyboardist Mark Burden and recorded Nature at home.
Fans of Owens' "fractured blues" sounds from earlier works in Valet are in
for a gentle, welcome surprise. Structurally speaking, the music is not
derived from the blues; but there is still a haunting spirit of the blues
alive and well, woven throughout the LP. Nature takes up residence in an area
that borders dream-pop, psychedelia, and shoegaze. Awash in this hazy sea
swims Owens' vocals. Her ethereal voice does not lack sustenance. In a vocal
style where it is easy to become breathy and lack diaphragm support, Ms.
Owens' singing is in tandem with the compositions offering a solid
partnership.
The album opener, 'Sunday' sets the tone. The track starts with long single
strums on a reverb driven guitar and floating vocals. It then drops into
steady rock-drums. This play between solid beats and hazy layered guitars and
synths is the kind of push and pull that allows the album as a whole to not
lose momentum. 'Sunday' does not use layers strictly for atmospherics, there
are specific riffs and melody/harmony lines that make the composition
interesting.
The same can be said for the title track. 'Nature' is more pop in its sound,
but still is able to bridge that gap of dreamy haze and solid foundation so
you don't float through the void for eternity. A pleasant 6/8 waltz feel and
an alive bass line direct the song. 'Nature' is interesting in that while the
music has an organic quality, the lyrics go in a different direction. While
clouds are mentioned, there are police cars, flashing lights, raised arms and
talk of going out Saturday night "with 40s in tow." The play between the
natural world and increasing complexity of modern human nature is something I
am gaining more appreciation for in each listen of this song.
While this album is full of songs with layers upon layers, there is a mature
restraint. It would be easy to add instruments for the sake of it. This is
where experience comes into play. Valet have been in the game long enough to
know everything must serve a purpose. This is best represented on the song
'Clouds'. In my opinion it's the best ong on the LP. 'Clouds' has back and
forths on multiple levels: between a dreamy guitar riff and accented drum
beat, and then a slightly hip-hop inspired beat and atmospherics that seep
through every crevice. There are moments when the song pushes to a point
where it can almost fill an arena but decides to back off. It instead goes
for a more rain-morning-mass vibe, echoing in an old stone church. The choice
to restrain and not allow the song to burst is what keeps it alive.
Valet accomplished what many modern musicians and producers struggle with
everyday: purposefulness. With the exponential growth of technology in the
production of music, it is far too easy to add in sounds, beats, and
instruments simply because you can. If the purpose of your song/album is to
highlight this fact, then more power to you. Unfortunately, that is rarely
the case. Valet took their past musical knowledge and forged an expansive
record that created its own little universe instead of trying to fill the
infinite vacuum of our own. And while I did have to take several listens to
gather together lyrics, I can appreciate the commitment to form and function
when it came to Nature. Valet's third LP is proof that hazy guitars and
dream-pop vocals aren't just for smoke-filled basements. When done right,
anyone can take the journey and float with the music rather than get buried
inside.
-=- SHGZ -=-
P.S.
** Thanks ***
*** BCC FNT IPC SSR ***
*** For Knowing Where The Music Is At ***
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* NuHS we miss you! *
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