By Kevin Scott
If you've even wanted Conor Oberst to pick up Badly Drawn Boy’s back catalogue and think “man, I want my next album to sound just like that” then it's probably in your interests to just stop reading this review and go and buy Valaska’s sophomore release Natural Habitat because that, in a nutshell, is what Chicago native Dave Valdez has done here. His gift is an ability to draw a whimsicality from his guitar that leaves the listener feeling both warm and melancholic.
Opening track ‘On The Surface,’ could come from a Bright Eyes album (I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning being a clear influence), a single acoustic guitar picking a folk melody while Valdez’s multi-tracked vocal adds a real depth. As opening lines go, “Well I survived the great rapture, I got stuck here in the after life, floating along the dead sea,” sets the stall of the album out fairly well. Even the cover - of a sleeping, and slightly sad but contended looking dog, seems to fit perfectly.
‘Spanish Needles’ introduces electric guitars and a faster tempo really picks the pace up before ‘Hammer and Nails’ brings it back down again. It’s a beautiful song, Valdez’s guitar back by a rudimentary drum beat. “I’m a drifter in my own mind and truth be told I don’t give a damn,” starts the memorable chorus. Backed by a brass section that adds extra depth to the crisp production (Copeland's Aaron Marsh on duty there and treating Valdez’s fragile work with great care).
The melodies are rich throughout and lyrically, there’s an affinity with Elliot Smith - it’s hugely introspective, as if Valdez is examining every aspect of his character.
Some tracks are slightly more experimental, the electronic melody that launches ‘Golden Age’ combining with woodwind and a ukulele during the chorus to great effect. The track, which was released as a single, is a highlight - the poetic lyrics of wanting to be somewhere else is something any listener can relate to, and that’s one of Valdez’s great skills, this ability to draw out emotion like a poultice. It’s impossible to listen to it without becoming reflective. “The seasons came and want, the breeze it headed west to see what you’ve become from a safe distance.”
The album continues in the same style throughout, every other track more stripped back, providing a good contract of styles.
Soaring strings on the title track exemplify the power that can be wrought from a song with the right sound in the right place. It’s another Oberst-influenced track. It’s poignant, uplifting and just a little heartbreaking - an encapsulation of the entire album then.
