Nature

Long awaited 2015 album from the indie band. For the last seven years, fans of Honey Owens' Valet have been patiently wondering if they would ever hear another record of her trademark ephemeral, fractured blues. Owens herself had been unsure she'd revive the Valet name after six busy years exploring psychedelic house music in the Miracles Club with her partner Rafael Fauria. But the arrival of Owens and Fauria's first child would soon inaugurate a time of change and reflection that would lead to the surprising arrival of Valet's third LP, Nature. Recorded at home over the course of a year, Nature evolved as a collaboration between Owens, Fauria, and drummer/bassist/keyboardist Mark Burden. The album finds the trio crafting enveloping layers of guitars, synthesizers, and reverb to create a shimmering, wide open sound. It's a restrained, direct style, but tying it all together is a lulling, dreamy melodic sense that is distinctively Valet. At the center stands Owens' ethereal voice, which has transitioned from evoking trippy fantasies to creating space for honest contemplation. Informed by Owens' early musical life in the '90s Bay Area underground music scene, Nature slyly synthesizes the DIY spirit of punk, the expansive guitar whorl of shoegaze, and the propulsive rhythmic drive of dub. For Valet, Nature's sound is a change in style, but not substance. From the haunted blues of 2006's Blood is Clean to the Fourth World free fusion of 2008's Naked Acid, Owens and company have always demonstrated a mastery of bringing together disparate musical genres into a unified musical whole.