The last we heard from St Louis band Frankie Valet was on their debut LP, Stop apologizing, an underrated indie pop gem released by It Takes Time Records back in 2018. The band, now settled on the four-piece lineup of Jack Elliott-Higgins (guitar and vocals), Felix Nelson (guitar and vocals), Gram Tolish (percussion) and Alison Setili (bass and vocals), have since honed their skills on plenty of live shows, all the while working on their sophomore LP, Waterfowl.
It’s the first actual record release on It Takes Time, and proves to be a watershed moment for both band and label. The blurb says the record “confronts both the clamour of youthful confusion and the stillness of nostalgia,” tracing the blueprint of their debut and taking it in completely new directions. “In other words,” the blurb goes on to describe, “it’s the sound of four friends growing together.”
While Stop apologizing was a record mostly written by Nelson and then brought to the group to flesh out, Waterfowl is a truly collaborative venture. It’s the sound of four people putting their heads and souls together to create something unique, a fact reflected in the eclecticism and unpredictability of the record. Take for instance the stripped-back opening of the pseudo-title track ‘Water foul’, just Setili’s vocals and subtle guitar and heaps of negative space, versus the song’s second half, which sees it transform into an emo-influenced rocker that wouldn’t look out of place on the last American Poetry Club record. This erratic nature is exacerbated as the song ricochets into the frenetic ‘Engulfed’, which barrels along at breakneck speed around deadpan vocals. It’s maybe the first straight-out rock song Frankie Valet have recorded, adding an as before unseen directness to their sound.
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This proves to be another noticeable evolution for Frankie Valet. Compared to the nostalgic fuzz of Stop apologizing, Waterfowl‘s production is succinct and stripped-back, capturing the essence of their live show. Take the taut opening of ‘Our apartment’, the sparkly pop of ‘You found me out’ (which starts like a throwback pop tune, but slides into a rousing kick drum stomp), or the yell-along finale ‘Alright okay’, which feels like a definitive celebration of DIY community that’s over in barely over a minute.
But it’s the album’s mid-way point, ‘Soft Skin’, that feels like the most important moment. Setili once again takes vocal duties in a track that builds from a dreamy shuffle, stepping through a hidden doorway just before the minute mark in one of Frankie Valet’s signature tempo changes. It’s the song that that best illustrates both the past and present of Frankie Valet, and leaves us guessing as to their future direction.
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Waterfowl is out now on It Takes Time Records. Get it via their Bandcamp or the Frankie Valet Bandcamp page.