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Detroit based indie-pop duo Valley Hush rise with fresh “Concepts”

Jon Berrien

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Featuring fresh vibes and soulful sounds, Detroit based indie-pop duo Valley Hush (Alex Kaye and Lianna Vanicelli) are most definitely ‘on the grind’. The pair are gearing up for the release of the their debut self titled full-length album dropping this November. With a unique and progressive sound, they just released the fresh new track “Concepts.”

GroundSounds recently caught with the two to talk about their latest single, musical inspirations and more, check out the exclusive interview below.

 

What made you two decide on the name Valley Hush?

We really wanted a name that isn’t an actual thing or place already ya know? We sort of envisioned this fictitious place, almost a pseudo-paradise where people’s imaginations can run wild. Somewhere that the normal pains and struggles of everyday life doesn’t really exist. It’s really whatever the listener wants it to be.

What do you guys enjoy most about Detroit?

Being around such insanely talented musicians artists photographers videographers etc etc etc etc. The list goes on forever. It’s crazy around here, all of our friends are doing something creative and most of them are really good too. It’s really inspiring to see everyone hustling and working on their craft. Also, it’s still pretty cheap to live here compared to other major cities. So you get this unbelievable raw creativity mixed with cheap rent and lakes n stuff. It’s pretty good. (…except I hate snow…..)

14542469_1126450180725629_741847819974792210_oCan you tell us about the writing and creative process involved with your latest fresh track “Concepts?”

Hmm…. It’s really hard to say. We approach a lot of tracks differently to be honest. Some start with a simple instrumental, or even just a beat or guitar line. Some start with vocals or just a few words. Then some start with us just talking about like a vibe for a song, and then everything else falls in around that. Butttt for Concepts I remember that the instrumental was relatively laid out before Lianna started writing lyrics around it. The song really started as like a soundscape piece with those crazy intro sounds, and all of the chords lyrics and melodies kind of came after that somehow.

What is it about experimental-pop that attracts you guys to this sound?

I think it’s the catchy aspect of pop that we love, mixed with the more unusual sounds, production, and arrangements that come with other less “mainstream” styles of music. I really don’t listen to radio much, but there are still some pop songs that come out now and then where the production is superrrr hot and it’s actually a pretty well written song too. That’s cool to us.

Can you tell us about working on and bringing your debut self-titled full-length album to fruition?

It was a huge undertaking for us. We really wanted the songs to relate to each other and sound like they should be on the same album together, so there was a lot of working and whittling away on things to get the sound and flow right. Plus we did the entire thing ourselves, Lianna wrote the lyrics and melodies (plus sang obviously), and I (alex) wrote the instrumental, recorded and produced the album, then ended up mixing and mastering it as well. So it took a lottttt of time to get all of it finished.

What was the inspiration for your track “Iris”?

Iris was born out of a lot of experimentation and is the song that changed the most from the time we began working on it to its current state. Lyrically, it’s inspired by the drastic highs and lows that make up our lives. It’s amazing to me how one day can be so incredibly perfect and the next day can feel like you’re living in a nightmare. I guess it just embraces that part of being human.

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What bands/musicians are you two currently listening to?

alex – Diggin Gallant right now for sure. Always listening to Tame Impala and music in that style. I have so little time to search for new music it’s kind of a bummer :/ haha

lianna – Bibio, Bishop Briggs, the new Glass Animals and Frank ocean albums.

When not making music what do you two enjoy doing in your free time?

Alex – Ummm…. we’ll…… it’s pretty much all I do, ha! I would say if I’m not working on some music project I’m either sleeping or at the bar playing pool with a bunch of other insane creative people in Hamtramck (a weird little city actually inside of Detroit)

Lianna – free time is a scarce thing these days. I feel like all I do is work to make ends meet. But when I do have it, I go to yoga, spend time with my amazing friends, and try to hang outside and ride my bike around.

After the album release, what’s next for Valley Hush, what can fans look forward to?

Well we’re definitely going to be playing shows out of town, so we’re excited to be working on putting a couple different tours together. Also we are about to start the writing process for the next album. It never ends! Really excited to keep progressing musically though, we still have a lot of things we want to explore.

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