With muffled vocals in minor keys, purposeful feedback, and dominating drums Valleys eerie folk sound resembles a bizarre nightmare.
The duo’s album, Sometimes Water Kills People, can almost be considered as one extensive song, rather than nine separate tracks, thanks to its consistently moderate tempo and transitions that melt the endings into the beginnings of subsequent songs. Lyrics and vocals take a back seat to their mystifying guitar preludes, or thundering drum patterns. The six minutes of “CR68C†is composed solely of stifled screeching guitar riffs with simultaneous plucking, and brief interludes of drumming.
If it’s intricate music patterns or inspirational lyrics you’re after, you’re headed in the wrong direction. I admit it was difficult to digest Valleys’ synthesized additives and unorthodox style. But by track two, “Santiago,†I was hooked to their repetitive lyrics and mellow mood. Tie for first goes to “Le Sujet Est Delicat†and “Tan Linesâ€; the addicting oriental instrumentals coming in halfway through the former and the simple yet poetic lyrics of the latter skyrocketed their play count.
-By Brie Roche-Lilliott
www.semprinirecords.com
www.myspace.com/valleysvalleysvalleys