- Words Notion Staff
Valentina takes us on a journey of self-discovery in 'All Are Lost', choosing herself on lead track 'Flutes Over Dudes (The Last Time That You Cried)'.
Having worked with the likes of Kano, Kindness and Hot Chip, Valentina has already established herself as an artist whose vocals command not just respect in the industry, but any room graced by her music. Known for her moving, hypnotic voice, which whisks you away to experience whatever tale she’s telling through her songs, Valentina is a story teller.
Her new, self-produced EP ‘All Are Lost’, written entirely by herself, bears testament to her skill. Written largely on the move, the six-track project incorporates elements of the places she visited – for example, featuring birds and sounds from the jungle in Costa Rica. But moreover, it’s about finding herself in those places, and building spaces to make music wherever she went – from bathrooms to slick studios, Mexico to LA.
The project’s focus track, ‘Flutes Over Dudes (The Last Time That You Cried)’, however, was written back in London after her travels. Hauntingly sombre but optimistically hopeful, it’s a moment of sincerity and soul-searching that sits as a centre piece for the project, grounding it in a moment of choosing herself. Penned after being broken up with, examining ideas of being ‘too much’, and then discovering new sounds and sides to herself whilst travelling, ‘Flutes Over Dudes (The Last Time That You Cried)’ is equal parts self-reflection and self-reclamation. As she sings on the track: “If it seems like I’m too much, maybe you’re not enough”.
“I wasn’t going to downplay or undermine myself anymore or make myself less intimidating or more agreeable for people,” Valentina says on the track. “I wasn’t going to pretend I didn’t need things that I needed”.
Enveloping us in a hazy mist of sounds and finding relief in moments of airiness, the track veers between heavy realisations and the lightness of letting them go, tied together with a firm message. The video, which is shot in black and white and carries an air of serene stillness despite it’s arty and playful imagery, reflects this message perfectly. On making it, she says: “Working with the director Alex Corona on this video, we were looking to be playful with the tone and juxtapose against the rawness of the lyrics. The photographic and contemplative setups in black and white felt like it sat in the right space for the theatrical plays on emotional states of being.”