SINGLE REVIEW :: Valley Palace - "Contact"

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Let me take a second to introduce you to one of my new favorite acts that I have found throughout this whole pandemic timeframe. Valley Palace is a solo project from 20-something year old & Fresno, California native, Nathan Taylor. I first fell across the glossy pop-y indie sound that Valley Palace produces with the single “Tapes” and was immediately hooked. Nathan has continued dropping a series of catchy songs like “Shell'' and “Young'' over the last year. His recent EP titled Pastel Mood could be used as a proper definition of the Valley Palace sonic feel. A soft and delicate approach to catchy 80’s pop songs that rely on a wall of sound from the layers of smooth guitar parts and emotional hook-based lyricism.

Valley Palace definitely matched the mood of the last 12 months with their newest single “Contact”. Starting with a poppy guitar riff and snappy snare intro, you immediately fall into the saturated groove of this new single. With a chorus that echoes feelings of loneliness and isolation, it's something that a lot of us may have had to recently deal with ourselves. The song continues with a mid-way build up & wave of guitars that take you along to the bridge of the song where the phrase “I’ve been up for days” begins repeating in echo right in the groove. For those who have pulled an all-nighter with work the next morning, you can relate to how fuzzy your mind can get with just missing one night of sleep. This emphasises how the amount of no contact and isolation the writer has had to deal with and has pushed them to the delusional state similar to being awake for multiple days. All of us can relate to how disorienting it can be to not have contact with a loved one or love lost. Now we have a bop to sing to in those moments to get us through.

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Review by ::

Shaun Crowley

Manor Records Founder

Manor Records gives 100% of the article author rights to Shaun Crowley.