The Daily Spin, June 26
Valley | Lost In Translation
Welcome back to the Daily Spin, the series in which I review 365 albums during 2023.
Each album will be given a rating on a scale from 0 to 10. You can look at the entire set here. Additionally, you can check out a list of my favorite song from each album right here.
If you want to suggest an album, good news! You can do so right here!
Album: Lost In Translation (2023)
Artist: Valley
Link:
Valley is music that on streaming services gets the genre “alt-pop”, but to me, it’s best described as soft - not in a derogatory sense, just that it’s generally pretty moody pop, trading heavier guitar influences for synths and more often than not doing without entirely.
It’s the 1975 pared down, not unlike the No Rome albums we reviewed earlier this year - think COIN in padded cells - but it works SO WELL. The hooks are unbelievably catchy, and the instrumentation does just enough to propel the lyrics forward without stumbling, corny but earnest in the best sense.
Not unlike the more recent evolutions of Justin Bieber, there’s that element of sadboi hours that I think gives the music dimension - right up until it doesn’t. 15 songs over about 40 minutes sounds like it’d go pretty quickly, but there’s only so many ways to restate heartbreak, and I’m not sure that this album innovates particularly brilliantly in that regard.
Rating: 8.1/10
Best Tracks: Natural; Evenings & Weekends; Break For You
Worst Tracks: Keep My Stuff