Aussie sibling duo Vallis Alps are back with a brand new single - 'You & I' - another from their long-awaited, much-anticipated forthcoming debut album, Cleave. Co-written with Young The Giant's Eric Cannata, the song is a nostalgic number from a time (a better time) when this kind of sound ruled and Vallis Alps themselves were at the forefront with tracks like 'Reprieve' and 'Run'. A tidy slice of indie-pop perfection, the tune mixes a stunning yet fragile hook with jaunty handclaps, a moody, rubber-bridged guitar and intimate lyrics which, while super personal, should indeed lend itself to some broad universality - looking at you film and TV sync agents, get busy!
It's clear the pair - Parissa Tosif and David Ansari - have been going through some things - reflection within the lyrics are practically a stream of conscious hindsight through the verses ("we used to talk until it hurt"), shift through what is clearly a relationship fracture.
Parissa shares, “This is a song that started when we were struggling to function as friends and as a band and wanted to quit working together. It went through over 20 versions and couldn't find its place until our friendship was repaired. Our hope is that people in all kinds of relationships - romantic, work partnerships, creative collaborations, and the like can relate to this journey we've been on and the tools we learned.”
David adds, “After a tumultuous 18 months of album writing, Parissa and I did mediation in early 2020 to salvage the album, the band, and our friendship. Our mediator helped us accept that we are opposites and that the 'messy middle' between our respective tastes and outlooks is where great work is made.”
Excitingly, their debut album is finally firmly in sight, a defining statement of evolution, making sense of the desperation of life, where severance gives way to strength; family, vocation, migration, and just plain living. The title Cleave boils down to Parissa and David both having taken their own paths in recent years through beginning their own families, moving abroad and building their creative careers: Parissa becoming a mother and her admittance and entrance as a practicing lawyer and David’s most recent launch of his ebullient solo project Davey and Podcrushed, the podcast where Penn Badgley, Nava Kavelin and Sophie Ansari explore the heartbreak, anxiety and self-discovery of being a teenager with notable guests including Amy Schumer, Drew Barrymore, Lisa Kudrow, Mark Ronson and more.
Cleave drops August 25th and is followed by a 10-date USA tour in September and October. Australian dates will almost-certainly follow, stay tuned for those. But in the meantime, thrust your support behind a fiercely independent outfit who a well-deserved of your hard earned dollars and streaming time.
VALLIS ALPS' CLEAVE OUT AUGUST 25 VIA THE ORCHARD.
PRE-ORDER AVAILABLE NOW.
