Los Angeles shoegaze outfit VALI S.C (VALI pronounced Valley) is the project of musician Kenneth Elkin (Sextile). Weaving together hazy vapours of wistful futurism with a nostalgia for California’s past, the new track “Sub/vert” takes cues from My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, early 4AD artists, and French coldwave.
The track delivers a guitar-saturated, transformative sonic bridge from Elkin’s dark past into a new era of love, light, freedom, and ultimately recovery. Driven by a drum sequence in line with Kate’s Bush’s famous ‘Deal with God’, “Sub/vert” is a healing journey through sound for Elkin, and, by extension, the audience. Ultimately, VALI S.C serves as a rebirth and proper burial of past transgressions – and an exciting lease on life for the artist.
“Sub/vert is about Infinite sustain, and a sense of permanence…it’s what allows me to continue to find my childlike self,” says Elkin. “Infinite sustain in those guitars. It’s what inspires me to be able to create. The stillness of the universe and being in the direct center of that is chaos.”
The entire album also serves as an homage to Eddie, a former Sextile bandmate who passed away from a drug overdose.
Listen below:
The album will be available on all platforms and via a limited cassette on February 28th through Cercle Social Records. You can preorder the digital wherever you download.
You can order the cassette here.
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