Let me set the scene; It’s a few hours before Valley goes on stage for their first ever show in Sydney. The Canadian indie-pop four-piece are in Australia for a whirlwind debut tour of the country following a run of dates in Asia, and have spent a whole day doing back-to-back press. I walk into the end of their soundcheck and they’re fine-tuning what the set will be for that night, and it’s sounding really tight.

They immediately greet me with warm energy. Mickey Brandolino and Alex Dimauro are feeling unwell and are wearing masks, but Rob Laska and Karah James seem in high spirits and are raving about the lunch they had earlier. You would forgive them if they were tired and wanted to savor every bit they had left for the show, but they immediately bubble away with me about lyrics, production and touring. Diving into specifics, they open up and give a raw and honest insight to their new album “Lost in Translation” which only came out at the end of June. 

The biggest thing that impressed me about Valley was how bright, energetic and technically tight their live show was. Immediately bouncing onto the stage with the highest level of energy to the opening song “Lost In Translation”, they had the crowd dancing from the start right through to the very end. From getting them to crouch to the floor and jump in the air, to screaming along to every lyric, they knew how to cultivate this pure passion. In one evening, Valley proved why they truly are a band you need to keep an eye on, and why they are quickly becoming your new favourite band.

Check out my full chat with them BELOW;

THOMAS BLEACH: Your new album “Lost In Translation” is out now. After releasing “Maybe” and a string of EP’s, when you look back at those body’s of work, what would you say is the biggest thing you’ve learnt as a group?

ROB LASKA: There’s a lot of carelessness to how those songs came together. There wasn’t success and there weren’t a lot of these things that sometimes can filter your innocence. We kind of just put those songs together, and that was the first record. It was this really beautiful coming of age experience that we put together. The EP’s then came from this need to stay busy during the pandemic because we were sitting alone at home and couldn’t figure out a way to do anything else. They were an accumulation of experiencing that, and what that felt like, as well as pushing boundaries in odd ways.

Post pandemic, we realised we were kind of avoiding the second album because of the second album scaries. But we decided as a band that it was about time. We’ve done a lot of growth and touring as a band, and it just felt like the right time. We learned to hone in on more of the things that make us, and amplify that more. It’s truly an album about bandhood. It’s about loss, heartbreak, and our human experience from age 18 right through to making “Lost In Translation” at 26 years old.

I think the biggest thing is we’ve matured a little bit. I think we just know what we like and how to say what we want to say a little bit clearer without being too on the nose. 

TB: Looking at “Maybe” what would you say is the portal track into “Lost In Translation”?

MICKEY BRANDOLINO: Probably the title track, “Lost In Translation”, or “Have a Good Summer Without Me”. They’re a little different, but I mean more sonically in the way we approached those songs

TB: The intro “theme” is very cinematic, and also feels very pointed towards the live show. Where in the process of the album was this intro conceived? 

RL: It was near the middle of the process. We’ve always talked about stitching together the album and making sure It’s a full listener experience. We’re all top to bottom kind of album listeners. That experience is very important to us as we grew up doing that.  

It felt wrong to just start the record with “Lost In Translation”, and we felt like you needed a portal in. Sonically I just arranged this string thing in MIDI. And then our friend Carson in Nashville is an amazing string composer and arranger. He went to New York and recorded a little string quartet and layered hundreds of tracks to make this beautiful symphony track. And it just kind of came together.

It feels like the start of the new era with a little bit of our past in there. I think we’re going to do that for the rest of our career, like we’re always going to have something that puts you in the Valley dream state before you hear the first song. 

TB: “Throwback Tears” is the energy I want in my life with lyrics like “I ain’t cryin’ throwback tears over us. I ain’t tryna go back, no bad blood”. Was this song written in the moment as a reminder or was it written in hindsight?

RL: That song was written totally as a joke at first. We were at our manager’s house and set up a studio in the kitchen while hanging with our friends John and Mathijs. But we were kind of hitting a wall that day. It was just one of those days where the song was not coming, and we were really close to giving up. We decided to go get some fresh air, and then we came back a little stoned, and it all started from there. I received a text from an ex-girlfriend that was like, “we should catch up”, and I was like “yeah, we haven’t talked in forever, let’s do it” and then our friend Mathijs was just like “throwback tears”. And we joked that it was the next song we were going to write as it seemed really stupid and cheesy, but then we did it and it was so much fun. It felt very classic, but also cheeky. Like, it felt very Amy Winehouse, too. 

The biggest thing I’ve learnt as a songwriter is that it’s not about capturing the song, it’s capturing the excitement because that’s the most important thing. And I think that’s why that song happened because once there’s a vibe everyone in the room has to carry the excitement. And for some reason that day we all juggled the excitement, and no one wanted to drop it. And if you don’t drop it, you usually score a three pointer. And I think that’s just kind of what happened. We were just blurring out stupid lines.

TB: “Break For You” sonically reminds me of Justin Bieber meets LAUV. So what were some sonical references you had for the song? 

RL: I remember writing that breakdown in the song – I wanted it to feel like Coldplay. It just feels like something Chris Martin would be jumping around to during that part. We were just kind of imagining our heroes when writing that song. “Justice” by Justin Bieber was big at the time, so maybe it did trickle in there somewhere. It was a big sonic influence, and the writing was great too on that record.

TB: On the back of that I feel like “Natural” was a bit 90’s and even boyband inspired?

RL: Yeah I totally see that. It could have been an insane Backstreet Boys or NSYNC cut back in the day, but with a bit of different production, and different groove. 

TB: “Good but not together” is first of all heartbreaking and relatable. But second of all it hears you questioning some things you”ll never know in the first verse. So right now; what is a current thing you”ll never know that you want to know?

KARAH JAMES: How to make music. The secret to that please.

MB: How to be unbiased

RL: That’s real shit! I think I would love to know what happens when I die. 

ALEX DIMAURO: Maybe experiencing the feeling of something you’ll never experience. Like growing up as a royal. 

RL: I want to know what it’s like to be an Olympic athlete. 

TB: I would love to know what it’s like to be a cat.

KJ: Actually, I’ve changed my answer. I would like to know what it’s like to be a dog. Or know what your dog is thinking. 

TB: The vulnerability of “i thought i could fly” is so heavy and beautiful. The intimacy of the lyrics is met with this delicate production which perfectly brings you into the emotion and heart of the song. Can you explain the importance of finding the right medium of production and vocals with this candid songwriting?

RL: That song came together very quickly in the moment. I recorded that in my apartment, and then everything stayed the same. The demo didn’t change. And all of the acoustics were just one take except the ending. For the ending we added a little vocal at the end, but we wanted to keep the soul of what the song was saying as a snapshot. But yeah that was just a very sad time for me. 

TB: You then go into “Either Way, I’m Going Your Way” which has some cohesive production elements to “i thought i could fly”. Was that intentional?

RL: Yeah, 100%. “i thought i could fly” is a very heavy song, and it feels like a nighttime track. It’s very closed in and is literally on the 20th floor. And then you get through the night and you hear the birds and everything coming in, and it’s kind of like the sun’s coming up again. So we wanted to kind of create that feeling that you walked out of your house and you’re starting a new day. So yeah, it was very intentional which I loved cause that is what it felt like in the moment. It felt like the darkness. But I feel like with a song that heavy, you can’t end on that. You can’t just jump to a party song. So you have to find that medium. 

TB: This record feels very cathartic and therapeutic and feels like a nice closing of a chapter in your life. How do you feel when you listen back to this record in full?

RL: I haven’t listened to it since it came out.

MB: I listened to it on the plane the other day and I fell asleep to it and I woke up to birds chirping. I was like, “holy shit I can’t believe we did this”.

RL: I have a rule now. I think I learned this from someone. Where it’s like, I don’t listen to the album from the day it comes out. I try not to listen to it for a full year. Playing it live and stuff is different, but I don’t just listen to it.

My biggest Issue with the world and music is that I’ll never be able to experience my favorite music for the first time again. And that’s something I wish I could do so much. I would give up so much to listen to the first Coldplay album I ever heard. Or listen to the first The 1975 album for the first time. Like, that experience is religious. I try to create that experience with our albums too. Cause it’s like, there’s something so special about checking in with it again and being like, “Oh my god. Fuck, this is a great album”. 

TB: The album has 15 songs and you also have two other albums and so many other songs in your discography, so when you come to somewhere like Australia for the first time, did you find yourselves diving into some songs you hadn’t played for a while?

RL: We definitely made sure that we play a lot of the new album because the new album is resonating out here. But we are also aware that people are seeing us for the first time so we’ve done a little bit of research. We always ask fans what they want to hear, but the best thing about the internet is seeing all of the analytics and stuff so you can see what songs pop off in Sydney, and what songs pop off in Brisbane. It’s kind of like creating the perfect first tasting menu.

KJ: On that note I really think we should swap “Sports Car” for “Swim” as it’s not really hitting here. Let’s do that tonight!

TB: “Like 1999” has had a complete life of its own on TikTok. What has been your favourite TikTok video you’ve seen using the song?

RL: Our friend Min Lee in South Korea does amazing remix mashups and has a crazy following now. But she did a Valley “1999” mashup and it was very well done. She’s really good at what she does. Honestly, that’s one of my favorite videos I’ve seen with the song. 

KJ: When we originally put the song up on TikTok, it was just a demo and wasn’t properly produced yet. Some guy on TikTok did a cover of it the next day and had all those insane harmonies and we legit ripped him off and we took a bunch of the harmonies and put them in the actual song. So I guess that that is my favorite TikTok *laughs*. He did send it to us and wanted us to do the harmonies that way, so it was okay *laughs*. 

“Lost In Translation” is out now