Sonic Breakfast has been in operation for over a year now. There was no birthday party and no celebration. It’s a year that has flown by and it’s fair to say that I enjoy the process of blogging and discovering exciting music even more now than I did back then. Maybe, I should buy a cake? It’s always been my intent to ‘ride alone’.
There’s still nothing that quite beats that feeling you get when an E-mail pops into your inbox direct from an artist you knew nothing about. You listen to the links that the artist has sent and immediately know that you’re on to a winner; such was the experience when previewing ‘Of The Valley’ earlier this week.
Brian DellaValle didn’t say much by way of introduction. In fact all he said was, “My name is Brian DellaValle and I am a Canadian singer-songwriter and long time Copenhagen resident. I have released my first material under my solo work: Of The Valley. I released the first single last night from an upcoming record and I hope you enjoy! Ride Alone.”
Brian’s allowing the tune to do the talking. Drawing clear influence from the very best of The National or Richmond Fontaine, ‘Ride Alone’ ambles along with mysterious intent. There’s no big, catchy chorus here or singalong ending. It’s not required. A violin accompaniment provides the aural equivalent of a nail scratching down a blackboard, adding perfectly to the increasing sense of austere intelligence in the air.
At its heart, I suspect that ‘Ride Alone’ is a positive statement of intent. Here, we have a man , keen to escape the confines that have held him back. There’s an inherent sadness that to do so will mean leaving things you cherish; but an overwhelming sense that it’s only by ‘riding alone’ and taking a risk that your dreams will be realised.
“He promptly dropped the day job and holed himself up in a small town in Northern Italy with an old typewriter and guitar. Though the material for the upcoming record was already written, he spent the next month slowing down and becoming a musician again,” says the press release about ‘Of The Valley’. You can almost hear this process happening within the twists and turns of ‘Ride Alone.’
I’ve got it playing on repeat…
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