May 10, 2024 – Alternative pop band Valley return with a brand new track, “When You Know Someone,” out today through Capitol Records/Universal Music Canada. Although the song was born out of the uncertainty in grief there’s a sense of familiarity as if Valley have returned to their roots. Karah’s harmonica blares with urgency over a loop Rob had worked on, inspired by Bruce Springsteen and The Killers, a bit of an arena-rock sound that seems like it should be soundtracking a pivotal scene in a cult classic.

“We wrote ‘When you Know Someone’ with Trent Dabbs (Kacey Musgraves, COIN, Ingrid Michaelson) who helped us channel the emptiness we were feeling,” Karah explains. “He sang the lyric when you know someone, think you know someone and I remember all of us just feeling so exposed and so seen by him in that moment. It’s a beautiful feeling of safety when you can write a song with people that truly understand where you’re coming from, you can’t hide and that’s powerful.”

Fans can tune into Valley’s YouTube to watch the premiere for the “When You Know Someone” live video at 12:00PM EDT today. The video was filmed at RC Harris water treatment plant, Valley explains “we were looking for a sense of brutalism mixed with beauty for this video and a lot of open space because the song feels very empty yet scenic.”

After a decade of making music together Valley are relearning to be a band together, entering a new chapter now as a trio. Rob Laska (lead vocalist), Alex Dimauro (bassist) and Karah James (drummer) were once rounded out by guitarist and lifelong friend Mickey Brandolino. In January, Mickey took his bandmates out and let them know that he would be leaving the band to focus on his dream of being a producer.

After collectively processing, the stars finally aligned to work with long-time friend Chase Lawrence from COIN who was pivotal in showing them the path to making music together again. With the help of Chase, Valley put some of these feelings on paper and in doing so, rediscovered their sound.

Valley are gearing up for a summer of festival appearances and Canadian shows with friends including hitting the stages at Calgary Stampede and Festival D’été De Québec then joining The Beaches and Dizzy at Budweiser Stage and Arkells for a run of Canadian dates. See all upcoming shows below.

Photo Credit: Becca Hamel – Left to right: Karah James, Alex Dimauro, Rob Laska

UPCOMING LIVE SHOWS:

ABOUT VALLEY

Since forming in 2016, Valley have accrued over 1.1 billion streams globally, having appeared on viral charts in the US, Philippines, Korea, Japan and more. Along with their three Juno Award nominations, the band has also garnered praise from Consequence, Wonderland, American Songwriter and CBC. Helping prompt much of their global recognition was “Like 1999,” a gold certified hit that went viral on TikTok.

As a four-piece, Valley introduced themselves to the world with self-written, self-produced releases, including the EP This Room Is White (2016) and full-length debut MAYBE (2019), followed by sucks to see you doing better (2020) and Last Birthday (2021).

Valley have also become known for their high-energy performances, which have been brought to renowned festivals like Life Is Beautiful, Governors Ball, Slow Life and Wunderstruck as well as their debut US TV performance as part of Stephen Colbert’s #LiveAtHome session plus they opened the biggest Canadian sporting event, playing the 2022 Grey Cup kick-off show. Having opened for artists like Lennon Stella, Dermot Kennedy and the Band CAMINO, Valley also nearly sold out their first-ever North American headlining tour.