The mesmerizing duo known as In The Valley Below may have come about originally as an unassuming studio project, but the group has clearly taken on a life of its own thanks in part to
The mesmerizing duo known as In The Valley Below may have come about originally as an unassuming studio project, but the group has clearly taken on a life of its own thanks in part to the continued success of “Peaches” and the recent success of their live shows.
It’s hard not to fall instantly under the band’s spell thanks to the brooding and lush textures as well as the soothing male and female harmony that is a natural hit. On the band’s debut album from last year, The Belt, these qualities do their best to blend multiple genres from song to song into a final product that can be verbosely summed up as a dark yet tranquil vat of intricate pop music beautifully interspersed between two evasive musicians.
Before the duo’s Richmond debut tonight at The National, RVA Magazine got to talk with one-half of the group, Memphis native Jeffrey Jacob, for a conversation that was as spaciously charming as the band’s music, leading to believe that the intentional mystery of the band is slowly bleeding over into the everyday lives of its members.
Clearly image is a big part of your band, but how much of it is natural and how much is forced?
It is very intentional on our part. We wanted to create an aesthetic that would allow the listener or audience member to become part of the space or the world we try to create with the music so the visuals definitely play a part in that. There’s a benefit too. Something like wearing specific outfits like we do allows us to go into a ritualistic or ceremonial headspace when we perform so it helps us to get into the right place. We hope the audience can come along with us.
A lot of artists have been talking about breaking down the “fourth wall” during their shows to make it more memorable. Do you guys find the opposite is true – that you need the “fourth wall” for your music?
I’d say we don’t really think about it from that perspective. I don’t have any problems with the “fourth Wall” per se. There is a nice sense of drama that we like to create on stage so I don’t know if that requires a “fourth wall” or if that happens naturally, but we are putting on a performance. There is a sense of us being watched by the audience so I guess that requires a “fourth wall,” but it’s not a conscious thing from our end.
Now, I’ve heard you talk about Phil Collins a number of times and the dark, brooding style of his music. Do you guys get drawn to his lighter, pop-oriented side as well?
Not quite as much although it is hard to escape those songs just cause they were all over the place and now they’re on classic rock radio all of the time. We tend towards the dark stuff for him and in general. I think when Angela and I started writing together, it was more that we both agreed on the dark side of Phil Collins. It wasn’t that he was far superior than anyone else, it just happened to be that we were both on the same page with that so we kind of connected on that when we started writing songs together. We both enjoy the sonic textures that he puts together. Using a lot of cool drum machines and synth sounds. Just creating a really nice kind of dark mood that we both gravitate towards.
I know the band name comes from a Bob Dylan lyric so do you guys take from him as well?
Lyrically, it’s hard to deny that he’s sort of the master. I think that subconsciously, we aspire to that level of songwriting craft, but I think it’s definitely more of a subconscious impulse than an active one.
Now, you were a studio project first and foremost. Were you reluctant to take this studio-created entity out into a completely different and uncontrollable touring environment?
It was definitely a challenge as far as getting the songs out of the studio and onto the stage. Moreso for us, learning how to sing those harmonies we had created in the studio in a totally different environment with a loud band behind us, that was a big challenge as well. There was a definitely a learning curve and it took us a while to get comfortable doing this material on stage. I feel like we’re finally getting comfortable though
Do you think it’s hard to get those harmonies as good live as they are in the studio?
Well, we’re probably not good people to ask because both of us are hypercritical of our performances. I don’t think it’s ever as good as the recording because you don’t get to go back and do it again when it’s live. From a perfectionist standpoint, which we both are, it’s rare that we’re both completely satisfied with a performance live, but it’s also about the energy, the audience, and that moment in time that can only happen once. There’s certain things you give up when you leave the studio and there’s certain things you gain from having the audience there so it’s a tradeoff. I don’t know if it makes it harder, but definitely more stressful.
Are you seeing the benefits of touring now?
Yeah, definitely. After being on the road for a while now, making that connection with the audiences is just something you can’t get anywhere else. It’s a very powerful thing. Now that “Peaches” is starting to have a little bit of traction in some cities, it’s pretty amazing to see people singing along. We never thought that would happen so this is pretty remarkable.
Since you wrote a lot of the album in the studio, are you finding it hard to write new music while on the road?
Most of the album was written in the studio except maybe one or two were made in more of a jamming environment with our drummer. The bulk of it was just Angela and myself. It is hard to write on the road mainly from a practical standpoint because you’re either driving somewhere, sound checking, setting up, breaking down, or selling merch so there’s very little time to actually sit down and write. When we get a few spare moments in a hotel room though, we try to work out stuff on an acoustic guitar, but it is different and more difficult than just sitting in the studio and really getting into it like we did on this record.
Are you finding the success of “Peaches” is delaying your next step?
Yeah, I guess technically it is delaying whatever the next step would be, the next album or whatever. But we’re happy to oblige whatever happens with this record because we worked really hard on it so if there’s any chance for it to get out there and get heard, then we’re going to go out there and give it that shot until someone tells us to stop. We’re always thinking of the next album as well and writing songs when we can so we’re already stockpiling material for whatever we end up doing.
Did you have any expectations when you and Angela first entered the studio?
When we initially started this project, it was just for fun really. Just to practice writing songs, recording them on our own, kind of working on our production skills, and working with synths which we hadn’t had much experience with before so there was just a trial and error ethos. We weren’t doing it for anybody but ourselves so that was the only impulse we had.
So did you shop it around from there?
Well, initially, we recorded five songs on our own and put them out on all the platforms, iTunes, Spotify, et cetera, just independently which we had done many times in the past before with other projects. We sent e-mails to all the labels we could think of and all that stuff and we got zero responses so we were ready to just move onto the next project. Then, we got a call from a manager who had heard our song on a Spotify playlist randomly and that’s how we got our manager. He’s the one who sort of gave us direction and kind of pushed us to perform live and then got this whole ball rolling for us. Yeah, none of this would have happened if our manger hadn’t found us by happenstance on Spotify.
Do you have any idea what you would have done had that not happened?
Probably just made another album with a different idea behind it. We like pushing ourselves to try different things so we probably would have moved on to something else musically. I have no idea what it would have been honestly, but we’re always creating music so whether it’s in this band or in a different project, it would have been something else fairly soon after that. It’s just good that this project took off the way it did and we’re seeing the benefits from it every day.
In The Valley Below makes their Richmond debut tonight at The National as part of XL102’s Discovery Series alongside Richmond bands The Blue and The Grey and Big Mama Shakes. For more information on tickets and show time, click here.
