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Madeline Kenney - Signals

Madeline Kenney

Chord of Sympathy, the sophomore album from Los Angeles band Valley Queen, is a dynamically layered sonic universe of intense range. Here, Carol’s inimitable vocals are as fearlessly fluid as ever—ethereal to thunderous in a note—and fully consuming. Whereas 2018’s Supergiant channeled pains of the past, Chord of Sympathy is borne of the endless present Carol experienced in her bedroom during lockdown, where time collapsed and the future needed to be created. Says Carol, “Chord of Sympathy is the yang to Supergiant’s yin.”

The album marks a definitive transformation in Valley Queen’s approach to writing, arranging, and producing. Making art through a global pandemic, and in the wake of an original band member’s departure, the group rerouted their roles. Instead of sticking to their individual instruments, the trio of Carol, Mike Deluccia, and Neil Wogensen moved around, trying on different hats, sharing them, and reinvigorating the Valley Queen sound in a style newly and truly collaborative.

Valley Queen’s vibrant new heartbeat resounds across the album, a forward-looking, starry-souled collection of songs that wrap listeners in a warm and hopeful embrace. “I didn’t coin the phrase ‘chord of sympathy.’ It comes from Hazrat Inayat Khan, an ancient sufi mystic,” Carol shares. “Writing this album, I wanted to embody such a notion: the chord of sympathy, a sound connecting us all.”

Valley Queen has gathered comparisons as iconic as Florence Welch, Dolores O’Riordan, Neil Young and acclaim from top-tier tastemakers including NPR, Rolling Stone, LA Times, Stereogum, WXPN, Spotify's New Music Friday, and beyond. Valley Queen has toured alongside the likes of Social Distortion, Justin Townes Earle, St. Paul & The Broken Bones, Laura Marling, and Heartless Bastards, while securing coveted festival slots at BottleRock, Pickathon, and Luck Reunion.

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Madeline Kenney

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