Sam Valdez tells stories that hurt. Feel the beautiful melancholia of "Clean"

"you stayed with me all morning laying on the floor"

Sam Valdez grew up at the edge of the Nevada desert. Maybe that is why her latest song, story, Clean has a sort of sun baked sound with frayed edges and a patina of dust on it. It is so incredibly easy to get lost inside the narrative stuffed in between the dreamy electric guitar with hints of flange, the droning wash of sounds that flood your senses but mostly it is easy to get lost inside Valdez's voice itself. Her vocal aesthetic that feels natural (even effortless) is earthy and filled with lines of hurt but knowing too. You can feel a street wise sense here. The melancholy expresses in her words and how she delivers them is heartbreaking.

"somewhere off in your head again"

"I'm over thinking shit again"

"oh your mind is changing to the cruelest kind"

The aforementioned lyrical excerpts are pulled out of fuller thoughts and while I wanted to share them I didn't want to rob you of the pleasure of hearing them in the song. A song that you will undoubtedly listen to a dozen times to feel the whole broken story. Valdez is an amazing lyricist. Her poetry, like all good poetry has you asking questions about her story and your own.   

-Robb Donker Curtius

Sam Valdez · Clean

THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:

soundcloud

https://www.instagram.com/samvaldez/

https://www.facebook.com/Sam-Valdez

https://twitter.com/samvaldezmusic

Sam Valdez’s immersive indie-rock sensibility reflects her childhood growing up at the edge of the Nevada desert, and her formative musical experiences as a child violinist. The mystery, beauty, and haunting quality of desert life has shaped the LA-based artist’s sense of dreamy textures, and her flair for abstract but emotive lyrics. Classical music’s majesty has informed her imaginative arrangements, and cinematic sense of dynamics.

Sam has melded in an intriguing blend of shoe-gaze, Americana, indie-rock, and pop into a signature aesthetic. Select career highlights thus far include garnering rave reviews in Clash Music, Consequence of Sound, and Earmilk; earning heavy rotation from KCRW for multiple singles; and opening tours for Stella Donnelly, Cayucas, and Giant Rooks.

“I’ve always tried to write from the most genuine place that I can, but, lately, and with this record, I’ve been working on sharing more sides of my views and emotions,” Sam details.

A feeling of 1960s nostalgic balladry courses through many of the songs on Sam’s debut. She says:” Melancholic, comforting and thought provoking is what I look for in music and what I feel and hope comes across in mine.” The album’s first single, “Toothache,” is a reverb-dipped slow burner glowering with sensual vocals and a twist on a breakup narrative. Here, the feeling is a longing to reconnect with one’s sense of self post romantic rupture.