There is something very intense and brooding about Grant Earl Lavalley’s voice. Almost sinister, but maybe not quite so evil. A song that would find its way snug in the soundtrack for True Detective (first season of course) with its frayed edges, dimly lit sepia toned nature and ethereal sonic palette. The singer-songwriter’s voice never strays too far from its footing, but instead carries the brunt of the song on its back steadily. Occasionally trailing off higher in a hybrid country droll-Appalachian howl. Bass notes from the acoustic carry under other delicate and unshakeable notes. Its spooky in a way, but moving and emotion driven. Sad, perhaps, lonesome, probably, but poignant and full.
Dark love and dark eyes / its the darkness that gets us high
The video for ‘Dark Love’ peers into the everyday of an artist. Lavalley lives off the grid in a way, “Originally from Ohio, Lavalley spent his formative years in San Francisco, making art and playing in punk bands before retreating to tend an emerald crop of future doobage on a Northern California mountaintop. It was alone on that mountain that he began writing his darkly poetic, pensive campfire songs.” There is this voyeurstic vibe to the visual nature of the music video that pairs perfectly with the slow moving picking pattern and the drone and creak of Grant’s vocal stretched over the top. We get to glimpse into that typically very solitary living, for better or worse, and follow the songwriter around through the course of the narrative.
Grant Earl Lavalley is anticipating a debut full length later this year, but the 7 inch that includes Dark Love will be out this month, May 27th. You can get more info HERE.