Low Valley Hearts roll out an ode to 'Lulu'
The group offers a homespun take on lush new wave and '80s goth-pop sensibilities
Christmas night at the Earl is the place to be, as Low Valley Hearts, a new group featuring members of Small Reactions, share the stage with Abby Gogo, who's playing their first show in nearly two-years.
In the meantime, CL has the premier for Low Valley Hearts' "Lulu," a perfectly discombobulating art-pop number with a homespun take on the lush new wave and goth sensibilities of such '80s greats as X-Mal Deutschland, early Human League, and the Cocteau Twins.
With "Lulu," Rossellini Politi, formerly of Del Venicci, sings and plays guitar amid a lineup featuring Evgeniia Leshchinskaia (synth, piano, vocals), Zalika Yavlinskiy (synth and vocals), and Sean Zearfoss (drums) through a fantastical dream world filled with images of cats, mistaken identity, and scandalous secrets. Politi explains:
"Lulu is a song written about a Cat named Lulu that Evgeniia was cat sitting for. Lulu would not come home for days at a time and when Lulu would return, she would only look at her food without eating and then walk back out the cat door to disappear for days. Evgeniia was left worried about the cat and wondered what sort of life Lulu was leading. The video concept was elaborated by Craig Whitehorn whom I know from my Relapse Comedy group. His idea was to show our affection for Lulu and explore our fantasies of having a great companionship with a pet without really understanding the dark life that Lulu was really living. Craig wrote the treatment and directed the video."
"Lulu" is the first glimpse at Pictures of Your Mind, Low Valley Hearts debut album, set to arrive Feb. 16. Cori Burns, who plays the cat in the video, is an acquaintance from Relapse Comedy as well.
Lyrics throughout Pictures Of Your Mind toggle between the English and Russian languages, as Pianist Leshchinskaia is originally from Siberia. She began musical training in a strict conservatory at a very young age. As such, many of the group's songs tell stories about her experiences living in Russia and Germany, and the struggle of living as an immigrant in the United States.