Let’s Talk Change: Valley Discusses Their New Album and The Work it Took to Bring It To Life

Toronto-based band Valley discusses all the challenges and successes of making music in the 21st century, and what listeners can expect from their new album.

PHOTO BY BECCA HAMEL

One of the only things inevitably true about our lives is that, despite our best efforts, everything will change. The world today is dependent on constant motion, to new cities, to different jobs, leaving behind what you know and moving on. Whether you’re the one left to ponder or the one expanding their horizons, coming to terms with changes takes time to process. 

Valley, a Toronto-based alternative pop band, explores the complicated emotions that come with change and much more on their new record Water the Flowers, Pray for a Garden. Pleaser sat down with the trio to discuss the album, the changes the group has faced and how those are reflecting in their next body of work. 

Water the Flowers, Pray for a Garden dropped on August 30, but before the full 13 track album, the band put out three singles as a teaser: “Water the Flowers, Pray for a Garden,” “When you Know Someone” and “Let it Rain.” In an interview with the band, lead vocalist and guitarist Rob Laska tells Pleaser the title track both “sonically and thematically” exemplifies the album best.

“The song deals with a lot of growth, change and metamorphosis, which is what the album is about. You can accept you've changed, pull out the weeds, plant truths and honesty, and new aspirations will grow,” he said. 

“Let it Rain” was the last single to be released before the album drop, but Laska said it was actually one of the earliest songs they wrote, after the title track. The song was written in Nashville, Tenn., where they met with Chase Lawrence, lead singer of the band COIN, to see if they could make music together. 

The meeting was an extraordinary success, and the trio came away with three songs and a partner to help them with the new album. Laska said “Let it Rain” blossomed when the three bandmates, including Karah James on drums and vocals and Alex Dimauro on bass, became vulnerable and processed changes both within the band and in their own personal lives. 

“It’s about hardship and change, relationships ending and beginning. Last year, we were having a hard time creating and were struggling to be our most authentic selves. This kind of snowballed into us recognizing that things don’t feel like they used to,” he said. “This song is us realizing that things aren't the same as they were when we were 17 making music, but we're taking those truths and authenticities and making something new with it.”

Laska said that Lawrence sat down at the piano and was playing around with four chords. The melancholy drops on the piano that Lawrence played inspired the sound, and once he played those notes, the song just “poured together.”

The intro to “Let it Rain,” sets the stage for the message to come:

Chan-chan-chan-change

Sometimes it's gonna rain

Let it rain, let it rain, let it rain

The biggest challenge the band faced amid this process was their lifelong friend and guitarist Mickey Brandolino deciding to leave the band and pursue his own career as a producer. Laska said the band “didn’t know what the future held” when Brandolino left. 

To process this, the band and Lawrence set out for a cabin in the Smoky Mountains in February of this year. The band spent the entire month there with very little access to the outside world, processing their heartbreak and their future together without Brandolino. 

“Chase was instrumental in filling in that fourth seat and talking with us about why we were still here making music. He helped us extract the most true and authentic version of what the three of us are,” he said. 

PHOTO BY BECCA HAMEL

Laska said with pride that this album is the first time the group can truly stand behind an album and say that this is “our truth, our story and our heart on their sleeve.”

He clarified that that doesn’t mean anything they produced before wasn’t authentically them, but for many bands, Valley included, the routine of music creation forces bands to sometimes get stuck. 

“There’s a pattern of, ‘Okay the album’s been put out, now it’s time to tour, and then it's time to come back and make another few singles and another album,’” Laska said. 

Valley vowed to halt that pattern with this album; if they are writing a song now, it’s to process an emotion or think through a problem. Gone are the days of producing a song just because it’s time to, and here to stay are emotionally raw, driven songs that really speak to listeners. 

“If the bucket is empty, that’s okay,” Laska said, a punctuation on their new outlook. 

Another track from the album, “Bop Ba,” continues to explore facets of heartache and growth the rest of the record reflects. The song carries different meanings for each member, with Laska pulling from his mother’s struggle with bipolar disorder while Jamesdrew inspiration from a feeling of dependency and unhealthy attachment in a romantic relationship. 

The looped pre chorus chants: 

She's scared to know, I'm scared to grow

What if I go down swinging?

It's bound to rain on my parade

I lie awake just singing

Over the course of the album, listeners will find an opportunity to feel both the true pain and true joy Valley experienced while making it. In hitting rock bottom, the three found new stones to turn over in their garden, leading to the band’s “most intimate and personal and special record,”  Laska said. 

“This is the record we’ve always dreamed of making.”

During the interview, we also discussed the power of social media and how it can also lock bands into a certain sound or message. James said that when a band goes viral, it can instill confidence in them and can “fill you up” in the moment. However, the virality of one specific song or verse can create a false, toxic illusion of what a band thinks the world wants it to make. 

“If that [a viral song] does not align with what you want to make, you’re caught between a rock and a hard place of what art you want to create and the art you think people want to consume.” 

She mentioned that, especially during the Covid lockdown of 2020 and 2021, a lot of bands had a viral song or video on TikTok. Some of those bands stayed relevant, but a vast majority have fallen to the wayside. 

“If you’re going to have a viral moment, there has to be something to back that up. The core of the content and sound has to be believable,” James said, referring to a certain level of talent and energy that band’s need to stay relevant. 

She says that social media can be a beautiful way to create community and connect with fans, but it can also suppress one’s idea of what people expect from you. 

In speaking on challenges the band faces, I asked if there were any hardships that go along with making music together since 2016. Laska explained that Water the Flowers, Pray for a Garden is different from previous albums because it spawns from a place of communal grieving. 

In the past, Laska said one member would bring an event forward, whether it be a breakup or a complicated emotion, and that would be the foundation of a song. This time around, the band is feeling the loss of their bandmate together, which instills a different creative environment. 

Additionally, Laska explained that the band is always trying to keep things fresh and interesting, and that can sometimes be a challenge when you’re with the same group for so long. 

“We’ve obviously made a lot of music together, so the question is always, ‘how do we keep pushing the envelope and exploring?’ How do you not stray from your authentic selves while also creating something new?” 

In talking about all things 2016, we rewound the tapes to the band’s first album, This Room Is White, which I fondly remember listening to when it was released. The one I appreciated most from the album was “Swim,” so I had to ask about the inspiration behind it. James answered this one, saying the song originated in Brandolino’s basement. Laska presented the song to the group on acoustic guitar, and “our jaws dropped,” James recalled. 

“I think it was me who said it's a great song, but it needs a drop, so I made a drum beat. We had an old keyboard there and I played around with the sitar sound.” 

Laska added that it was a spur of the moment song that all ended up coming together.

“When you get on the same frequency as other people, it's the best drug in the world,” he said, explaining that all of the bandmates knew exactly how to contribute in the right way. 

“Everything anyone did, said, touched and played was exactly what we were supposed to do,” he said. “It’s like capturing magic.” 

Valley is headed out on a US Tour this fall, stopping in cities from Philadelphia to Seattle, and even to my backyard venue, the Brooklyn Steel. All three were incredibly enthused about the opportunity to be playing live shows again, and are really looking forward to playing the new record for both new and old fans. 

I’ll definitely be at the Brooklyn Steel on Oct. 2, so don’t miss your chance to see Valley in a city near you!