We are happy to welcome Nicholas Dayton, our newest WtMM contributor. Just like all of us (José, Bea, and Adam) he shares the love for very new indie music and we feel he will be here for a long time.
Sam Valdez is a singer and songwriter that grew up near the beautiful openness and desolation of Nevada’s deserts. Now, in the crowded streets of Los Angeles, she crafts songs about loneliness, youth, and the attempt and desire to discover one’s self. The sparse reverb-laden instrumentation and her floating, soaring vocal melodies conjure up both images of vast stretches of sand under descending suns and the bright if lonely lights of an empty Hollywood street in the dead of night.
Out the gate, her voice and melodies are reminiscent of Lana del Rey. But it’s the space that she leaves to go elsewhere with her music that is enticing. On Don’t Want to Be Yours Anymore, her first track released in 2017, we here the influence of Lana del Rey. But the crisp acoustic guitar separates her sound. Later in the song a deep guitar with a subtle twang, and the light strumming of a mandolin, perhaps demonstrate how her music will evolve and truly come into its own.
Farther Away, her most recent release, retains this blend of desert ambiance and California looseness, for lack of a better term. Her voice is lilting like a Stevie Nicks solo record, and the slide guitar and the soft yet persistent drums keep us moving through the track.
Valdez shows talent at this humble beginning, and demonstrates, albeit subtly, that she has direction and more to offer. Keep updated on her releases via these links: