New album Nights is out 12th May via Small Pond.
Who: Stefano Villani (guitars, electronics, vocals), David Ferretti (drums), Francesco Giovanetti (baritone guitar, synths).
What: Instrumental math rock
Where: Correggio, Italy
Why: Alright. Let’s learn some stuff. We love learning stuff. So Valerian is many things. It was an early pseudonym for Gary Numan, it’s a race in the Star Trek universe, and it is a perennial flowering plant, the root of which has sedative and anxiolytic (anti-anxiety) effects.
And now let’s get back to business. Valerian Swing is an instrumental/math/post rock band that hail from Correggio, Italy. They’ve got a real off kilter, angular, jagged approach to instrumental rock. Unusual time signatures, and drumming patterns create a tension that is wonderfully accentuated by their tendency to complement this irregularity with more straightforward, melodic, and soaring sections. The result are tracks that veer from the abstract and clinical to sections that are more affecting and dramatic. It’s quite an impressive and delightfully manipulative contrast.
The band are set to tour the UK in April with Alpha Male Tea Party:
26th April – Bristol, Stage & Hounds
27th April – Manchester, Aatma
28th April – London, Birthdays
29th April – Brighton, Green Door Store
Followed by their own European shows in May:
2nd May – Antwerp, Antwerp Music City
3rd May – Metz, La Chaouée
4th May – Bremen, Zollkantine
5th May – Kiel, Medusa
6th May – Copenhagen, A Colossal Weekend/Vega
Find Valerian Swing on Facebook.
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