First, and (probably not) most crucially, kudos to Laura Dolan on being able to ride a horse. Ohio heavy rock and rollers Electric Citizen are between tours supporting their 2025 album, EC4 (review here), and the new video for “Static Vision” comes as they’ve also added three December dates in the Pacific Northwest to the proceedings, including a spot at Rain City Doom Fest in Seattle on Dec. 12. It’s been that kind of year for the Cincinnati five-piece. One thing into the next into the next. Certainly since the album release.

Because I’m a lucky boy, I got to see Electric Citizen in my hometown this summer (review here), and I’ll tell you outright that my gratitude at their having included the likes of Morris Plains, New Jersey, on their routing has not dulled with in the two months since. Probably not a career-highlight for the band, just to be honest, but holy crap, I was happy to see them.

They’ll be in many more-populated burgs come next month. Tour resumes Oct. 10 and runs through Oct. 25, then the three shows in December. The PR wire brought the “Static Vision” clip (I’m not sure what’s going on story-wise, but it suits the atmosphere of the song) and the tour dates. To wit:

70s hard rock specialists ELECTRIC CITIZEN share “Static Vision” video off new album on Heavy Psych Sounds; US fall tour announced!

Ohio-based 70s heavy and psych rock purveyors ELECTRIC CITIZEN have released a new video taken from their fourth studio album “EC4”, released this summer on Heavy Psych Sounds. The band recently announced a full US tour in support of the album, including shows alongside High On Fire, Kadabra and Earth Tongue.

“Static Vision” is a descent into screen-fueled catatonia and bucolic escapism. Director Jane Elizabeth Slater channels the early ’90s with plenty of VHS grit, postmodern decor, and visuals inspired by Neil Krug’s cover art for the band’s newest album. Edited and shot using a mix of vintage camcorder and DSLR by Slater herself, “Static Vision” is a wistful homage to an era before digital dependence.

Electric Citizen US fall shows:
Oct 10: The Ship – Kansas City, MO
Oct 11: HQ – Denver, CO
Oct 12: The DLC – Salt Lake City, UT
Oct 13: Shrine Social Club – Boise, ID
Oct 14: Cafe Colonial – Sacramento, CA
Oct 15: The Ritz – San Jose, CA
Oct 16: Kilowatt Bar – San Fran, CA *
Oct 17: Permanent Records Roadhouse – Los Angeles, CA
Oct 18: Jacumba Breakdown, Jacumba Hot Springs, CA + *
Oct 19: Yucca Tap Room – Tempe, AZ
Oct 20: Sister – Albuquerque, NM
Oct 22: Resonant Head – Oklahoma City, OK
Oct 23: Reverb Lounge – Omaha, NE
Oct 24: Reggies – Chicago, IL
Oct 25: The Pyramid Scheme – Grand Rapids, MI
Dec 12: Rain City Doom Fest – Seattle, WA °
Dec 13: Kingsway – Vancouver, BC °
Dec 14: Mississippi Studios – Portland, OR °
+With High on Fire
°With Kadabra
*No Earth Tongue

Seven years after their last release “Helltown”, Electric Citizen returns with their fourth album “EC4” — a powerful statement of renewal and raw energy. Written by Ross Dolan with contributions from the full band, the album was meticulously crafted over several years and recorded with Mike Montgomery and John Hoffman at Candyland Studio in Dayton, KY. It was mixed by Collin Dupuis (Lana Del Rey, The Black Keys) in Detroit and mastered by JJ Golden (Ty Segall, Calexico) at Golden Mastering in California. The album art was created by Neil Krug (Lana Del Rey, Tame Impala, Weyes Blood), who the band worked with for their first album “Sateen”.

ELECTRIC CITIZEN is
Ross Dolan – Guitar
Laura Dolan – Vocals
Nick Vogelpohl – Bass
Nate Wagner – Drums
Owen Lee – Keyboards

www.electriccitizenband.com
www.instagram.com/electriccitizenband
www.facebook.com/electriccitizen

heavypsychsoundsrecords.bandcamp.com
www.heavypsychsounds.com
https://www.facebook.com/HEAVYPSYCHSOUNDS/
https://www.instagram.com/heavypsychsounds_records/

Electric Citizen, “Static Vision”

Electric Citizen, EC4 (2025)

Even as Ohio’s Electric Citizen set out on their East Coast tour supporting their new album, EC4 (review here), the band have announced the follow-up West Coast jaunt set to take place in October. Note as well that they’ll bring Earth Tongue, who I’m pretty sure moved to Germany from New Zealand, where they got their start, along for the ride, presumably for that extra push of sweetly satanic good-time heavy. It’s Earth Tongue‘s first time in the country. Don’t embarrass yourself by not being there.

In the meantime, I’m stupid stoked to see Electric Citizen this week the way a lot of other people experience shows, i.e. without a two-hour commute. They play Autodidact Brewing on Thursday in my hometown of Morris Plains, New Jersey (actually Parsippany, but we use Morris Plains’ post office), and will have due boogie fortification from the support of Maryland classicists Magick Potion for the evening. Can’t wait.

New dates, and the old ones, I suppose, come from socials:

Tour continues in October with a killer band from New Zealand @earthtongue on @intheredrecords – Their first time in the USA.

Oct 10: The Ship – Kansas City, MO
Oct 11: HQ – Denver, CO
Oct 12: The DLC – Salt Lake City, UT
Oct 13: Shrine Social Club – Boise, ID
Oct 14: TBA – Sacramento, CA
Oct 15: The Ritz – San Jose, CA
Oct 16: Kilowatt Bar – San Fran, CA *
Oct 17: Permanent Records Roadhouse – Los Angeles, CA
Oct 18: Jacumba Breakdown – Jacumba Hot Springs, CA + *
Oct 19: Yucca Tap Room – Tempe, AZ
Oct 20: Sister – Albuquerque, NM
Oct 22: Resonant Head – Oklahoma City, OK
Oct 23: Reverb Lounge – Omaha, NE
Oct 24: Reggies – Chicago, IL
Oct 25: The Pyramid Scheme – Grand Rapids, MI
+With High on Fire *No Earth Tongue

ELECTRIC CITIZEN remaining summer dates::
July 15 Philadelphia, PA @ Milkboy
July 16 Hamden, CT @ Space Ballroom
July 17 Morris Plains, NJ @ Autodidact
July 18 Brooklyn, NY @ TV Eye
July 19 Easthampton, MA @ Marigold Theater
July 20 Baltimore, MD @ Metro
July 21 Raleigh, NC @ Pour House
July 22 Charleston, SC @ Lo-Fi Brewing
July 23 Atlanta, GA @ 529
July 24 Knoxville, TN @ Open Chord
July 25 Nashville, TN @ The ’58
July 26 Louisville, KY @ Portal

Seven years after their last release “Helltown”, Electric Citizen returns with their fourth album “EC4” — a powerful statement of renewal and raw energy. Written by Ross Dolan with contributions from the full band, the album was meticulously crafted over several years and recorded with Mike Montgomery and John Hoffman at Candyland Studio in Dayton, KY. It was mixed by Collin Dupuis (Lana Del Rey, The Black Keys) in Detroit and mastered by JJ Golden (Ty Segall, Calexico) at Golden Mastering in California. The album art was created by Neil Krug (Lana Del Rey, Tame Impala, Weyes Blood), who the band worked with for their first album “Sateen”.

ELECTRIC CITIZEN is
Ross Dolan – Guitar
Laura Dolan – Vocals
Nick Vogelpohl – Bass
Nate Wagner – Drums
Owen Lee – Keyboards

www.electriccitizenband.com
www.instagram.com/electriccitizenband
www.facebook.com/electriccitizen

heavypsychsoundsrecords.bandcamp.com
www.heavypsychsounds.com
https://www.facebook.com/HEAVYPSYCHSOUNDS/
https://www.instagram.com/heavypsychsounds_records/

Electric Citizen, “Static Vision”

Electric Citizen, EC4 (2025)

I saw Valley of the Sun in January. Man, what a good time that was. And I guess I bring it up because the Cincinnati trio are about to undertake a full-US tour with The Dead Deads, doing the support-slot thing, hopefully exposing themselves to a new audience of rock and rollers beyond, well, dudes like me who could tell you where they were the first time they heard “Riding the Dunes.” This is a good thing. As I understand it, touring in the States, like everything in the States, is expensive and kind of shitty, so good on Valley of the Sun for figuring a way to get out.

A likewise comprehensive European tour is set to follow next month. This will carry the band through festivals and club dates, the Sound of Liberation anniversary party and the legendary Stoned From the Underground, with more gigs than I care to count let alone type out. One would not accuse Valley of the Sun of skipping out on putting their work in as they support 2024’s self-released Quintessence (review here). They’re about to have a busy summer, and by no means is it their first. Somewhat undervalued — I think maybe a little taken for granted — they’ve been resoundingly consistent in work ethic and songcraft alike.

I won’t see them on either of these tours, but the Euro one is newly-announced, so that poster is below. The US poster is there too, should you want a look at those dates. Behold:

⚡VALLEY OF THE SUN – EUROPE 2025⚡

Heavy-hitting power trio Valley of the Sun is back on the road soon! 🔥
Don’t miss out. Tickets on sale now! 🎫

COMING BACK TO EUROPE!!!
More dates to be added!

Valley of the Sun are:
Ryan Ferrier – guitars and vocals
Chris Sweeney – bass, keys, and additional guitars
Johnny Kathman – drums, percussion, and additional guitars

https://www.facebook.com/valleyofthesun/
https://www.instagram.com/valleyofthesunband/
http://valleyofthesun.bandcamp.com/

Valley of the Sun, Quintessence (2024)

Ohio classic heavy rockers Electric Citizen release their new album, EC4, June 27 through Heavy Psych Sounds. It’s very subtly been seven years since the Cincinnati now-five-piece put out 2018’s Sateen (review here), their third and final offering for RidingEasy Records, and although I’m not sure why, EC4 feels like something of a comeback.

It’s in the energy as “Mire” crashes into its chorus, maybe, or the insistent jab of the riff to “Static Vision” and the organ-laced proto-metal charge of “Smokey” topped with Laura Dolan‘s signature croon, and the way “Traveler’s Moon” taps into a psychedelia of mood before the layer-topped payoff of its build. It’s in the confident, not overly showy way the band go about their business. Being a good band and not sounding like jerks about it — whether through overplaying or competing with each other, neither of which Electric Citizen have ever really done — are not new for them, but there’s a corresponding stylistic realignment on EC4 that puts the band back in touch with its garage-heavy roots, and that does feel different.

Granted it was a while ago now, but Sateen pulled away from the push of a song like “Static Vision” or the later “Lizard Brain,” and it’s not so much that EC4 ignores that in favor of sounding like the band’s earlier work, but that they’ve found ways to incorporate that growth in craft into their thankfully-unpretentious songwriting. But EC4 isn’t just shoving ’70s-via-’10s boogie either. The longest song at 6:22, “Traveler’s Moon” sets up the shift into the acoustic-led centerpiece “Tuning Tree,” departing the rockers-up-front initial impression of the record for the more psychedelic-flavored “Moss,” and reorient with the hooky-riffy ground-touch of “Lizard Brain” before “Other Planets” drifts into solo-topped doom rock majesty and “Flower of Salt” finishes with a blend of acoustic and organ that reminds of Lamp of the Universe. So yes, there’s more than one thing going on.

A varied sound isn’t new for Electric Citizen either, but it’s a question of refinement here. EC4 collects different moods and offers a sense of range, but whether it’s “Smokey” or “Traveler’s Moon” or “Other Planets,” the band aren’t just evoking divergence for its own sake, but adding with each piece to the scope of the whole album. Accordingly, in nine songs and 39 minutes, Electric Citizen hone a deceptively sharp approach, keyed in on what they want their sound to be and unwilling not to explore around those ideas in order to find new places to go. It is perhaps the most Electric Citizen that Electric Citizen have ever sounded.

“Smokey” premieres on the player below, followed by more from the PR wire including just-announced East Coast tour dates (including at Autodidact in my hometown!). Please enjoy:

Electric Citizen, “Smokey”

SAYS THE BAND: “As we slip through time’s grip and chase the meaning in chaos we give this offering from the haze. Light it up, Smokey.”

SMOKEY is the second single taken from ELECTRIC CITIZEN upcoming new album.

The release will see the light June 27th via Heavy Psych Sounds.

ALBUM PRESALE:
https://www.heavypsychsounds.com/shop.htm#HPS358

USA PRESALE:
https://www.heavypsychsounds.com/shop-usa.htm

Seven years after their last release “Helltown”, Electric Citizen returns with their fourth album “EC4” — a powerful statement of renewal and raw energy. Written by Ross Dolan with contributions from the full band, the album was meticulously crafted over several years and recorded with Mike Montgomery and John Hoffman at Candyland Studio in Dayton, KY. It was mixed by Collin Dupuis (Lana Del Rey, The Black Keys) in Detroit and mastered by JJ Golden (Ty Segall, Calexico) at Golden Mastering in California. The album art was created by Neil Krug (Lana Del Rey, Tame Impala, Weyes Blood), who the band worked with for their first album “Sateen”.

Tracklisting:
1. Mire
2. Static Vision
3. Smokey
4. Traveler’s Moon
5. Tuning Tree
6. Moss
7. Lizard Brain
8. Other Planets
9. Flower Of Salt

ELECTRIC CITIZEN live:
July 10 Detroit, MI @ Sanctuary
July 11 Columbus, OH @ Ace of Cups
July 12 Cincinnati, OH @ Northside Tavern
July 13 Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop
July 15 Philadelphia, PA @ Milkboy
July 16 Hamden, CT @ Space Ballroom
July 17 Morris Plains, NJ @ Autodidact
July 18 Brooklyn, NY @ TV Eye
July 19 Easthampton, MA @ Marigold Theater
July 20 Baltimore, MD @ Metro
July 21 Raleigh, NC @ Pour House
July 22 Charleston, SC @ Lo-Fi Brewing
July 23 Atlanta, GA @ 529
July 24 Knoxville, TN @ Open Chord
July 25 Nashville, TN @ The ’58
July 26 Louisville, KY @ Portal

ELECTRIC CITIZEN is
Ross Dolan – Guitar
Laura Dolan – Vocals
Nick Vogelpohl – Bass
Nate Wagner – Drums
Owen Lee – Keyboards

Electric Citizen, “Static Vision”

Electric Citizen, EC4 (2025)

www.electriccitizenband.com

Electric Citizen on Bandcamp

www.facebook.com/electriccitizen

www.instagram.com/electriccitizenband

Heavy Psych Sounds on Facebook

Heavy Psych Sounds on Instagram

Heavy Psych Sounds on Bandcamp

Heavy Psych Sounds website

Uptempo kick, killer shred, the vocals cutting through like early Uncle Acid in a rush, due bluesy shred breaking into slower ethereal groove with organ and the vocals in layers, yeah, you could say Electric Citizen‘s “Static Vision” — not to be confused with now-Heavy–Psych–Sounds-labelmates Ecstatic Vision, who are from Philly — bodes well for what’s in store on their fourth album and first for the aforementioned new label, EC4.

It’s also their first new work in seven years — isn’t it odd how so many artists and bands are, oh, I don’t know, two or three years behind what you might expect a ‘normal’ schedule to be? it’s like there was some shared planetary trauma for two-plus of those years that nobody wants to talk about anymore let alone attempt to process; as a species we are so perpetually dumb — and I think if you dug what I guess we can now call their ‘RidingEasy era,’ the first three records the last of which was 2018’s Helltown (review here), then “Static Vision” should be a ready reminder of their specific brand of kickassery.

The PR wire has details and here they are:

ELECTRIC CITIZEN to release new album “EC4” on June 27th via Heavy Psych Sounds; first single “Static Vision” streaming!

Cincinnati, Ohio proto-heavy and psychedelic rockers ELECTRIC CITIZEN have signed to Heavy Psych Sounds for the release of their fourth studio album “EC4”, this June 27th and unveil the first single.

Seven years after their last release “Helltown”, Electric Citizen returns with their fourth album “EC4” — a powerful statement of renewal and raw energy. Written by Ross Dolan with contributions from the full band, the album was meticulously crafted over several years and recorded with Mike Montgomery and John Hoffman at Candyland Studio in Dayton, KY. It was mixed by Collin Dupuis (Lana Del Rey, The Black Keys) in Detroit and mastered by JJ Golden (Ty Segall, Calexico) at Golden Mastering in California. The album art was created by Neil Krug (Lana Del Rey, Tame Impala, Weyes Blood), who the band worked with for their first album “Sateen”.

Now signed to Heavy Psych Sounds, Electric Citizen is ready to unleash their most potent work yet: a fusion of hypnotic grooves, searing guitars, and Laura Dolan’s mesmerizing vocals. “EC4” is both a homecoming and a rebirth. Electric Citizen is back!

ELECTRIC CITIZEN “EC4”
Out June 27th on Heavy Psych Sounds – Preorder: https://www.heavypsychsounds.com/shop.htm#HPS357

Electric Citizen is a Cincinnati-based rock band known for its fuzzed-out riffs, haunting melodies, and electrifying live shows. Since forming in 2012, it has carved out a distinct sound, blending vintage psychedelia with heavy rock ‘n’ roll. With three acclaimed albums under their belt, Electric Citizen has toured extensively, sharing stages with acts like The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Pentagram and Fu Manchu.

ELECTRIC CITIZEN is
Ross Dolan – Guitar
Laura Dolan – Vocals
Nick Vogelpohl – Bass
Nate Wagner – Drums
Owen Lee – Keyboards

www.electriccitizenband.com
www.facebook.com/electriccitizen
www.twitter.com/electriccitizen
www.instagram.com/electriccitizenband

heavypsychsoundsrecords.bandcamp.com
www.heavypsychsounds.com
https://www.facebook.com/HEAVYPSYCHSOUNDS/
https://www.instagram.com/heavypsychsounds_records/

Electric Citizen, “Static Vision”

Electric Citizen, EC4 (2025)

Siss are a new band — they’ve got their first demo up and are about to make their live debut; yup, that’s new-band stuff — but you might recall vocalist Laura Dolan and guitarist Ross Dolan from Cincinnati-based classic heavy rockers Electric Citizen. That band’s own debut full-length, Sateen (review here), came out a decade ago (wow.) through RidingEasy Records, who would also stand behind their two subsequent LPs, 2016’s Higher Time (review here) and 2018’s Helltown (review here), the latter of which remains their most recent offering.

In addition to their Dolan contingent, Electric Citizen was a full four-piece featuring bassist Nicholas Vogelpohl and drummer Nathan Wagner, while you’ll notice that with Siss, the configuration is… a full four-piece featuring bassist Nicholas Vogelpohl and drummer Nathan Wagner! Yeah, it’s the same band in terms of the players involved, and obviously some things will have carried over from one band to the next in no small part as a result of that. But at least based on the two streaming tracks “New Drag” and “Prospector,” the vibe I get is more like a reset. Helltown was a bold stepout stylistically, so maybe they thought it was better to leave the progression of Electric Citizen where it was and start over with a new name and new, rawer, more garage-style ideas. I’ll be interested to hear where doing so takes them.

If you’re in town and also curious, the first Siss show takes place this weekend in Cincinnati — info is below. Get video if you go. In the meantime, I don’t know what the band’s plans are as regards touring or making albums or what their preferred deli order is or any of it, but at least in my head, you don’t just drop an established name for no reason, so Siss‘ emergence out of Electric Citizen is notable even before you get to the songs sounding cool.

And speaking of that, here’s this:

Demos are live on bandcamp! More streaming platforms coming soon. Demos Recorded, Mixed, and Mastered by Brian Niesz.

Tracklisting:
1. New Drag 03:22
2. Prospector 03:38

First Show Saturday, Aug 31 at MOTR Pub Cincinnati with The Harlequins.

Siss are:
Ross Dolan: guitar
Laura Dolan: vocals
Nicholas Vogelpohl: bass
Nathan Wagner: drums

https://www.facebook.com/sisstheband
https://www.instagram.com/sissband
https://siss.bandcamp.com/

Siss, Demo (2024)

This past Spring, Cincinnati, Ohio-based heavy rockers Valley of the Sun posted up the first five songs of their Quintessence LP as Quintessence Pt. 1, heralding their fourth album to come and subverting the general expectation of a single here, a single there ahead of a release date in favor of doing things their own way. Recorded with John Naclerio at Nada Recording Studio — with whom they’ve worked before, notably on 2011’s The Sayings of the Seers EP (review here, discussed here) and the band’s 2014 debut, Electric Talons of the Thunderhawk (review here); Naclerio also adds guitar to “I’ll See Them Burn” here — in April, Quintessence arrives some two years after the band’s third full-length, 2022’s The Chariot (review here), and finds the lineup shifted from a double-guitar four-piece to a trio with guitarist/vocalist Ryan Ferrier, bassist/keyboardist Chris Sweeney and drummer Johnny Kathman, self-releasing after a stretch with Fuzzorama Records and Ripple Music.

While the title seems to speak to some sense of an archetype, the album has been touted by the band as a departure, and in some ways it is. More likely the title refers to the fifth element of space alongside the traditional earth, air, fire and water; song titles like that of opener “Terra Luna Sol,” “Graviton,” “The Late Heavy Bombardment,” “Red Shift,” “Palus Somni” (located on the moon), “Theia” and “Aurora” speak to a spacey theme at least in terms of outward presentation, and the narrative (blessings and peace upon it) holds that this emerged from the fact that they were recording during the total solar eclipse (depicted on the Jarrod Warf cover art) earlier this year. Either way, much of what one has come to expect from a Valley of the Sun outing remains intact, and considering the quality of their craft over the better part of the last 15 years, that should be read as a compliment. “The Late Heavy Bombardment” opens to a fuzzy nodder of a hook that stands alongside a swath of compatriots from their discography, while “I’ll See Them Burn” shoves forward in the later going of Quintessence with a particularly aggressive movement and a sub-three-minute runtime ahead of the ambient interlude “Aurora” and the closing title-track, which stretches over seven minutes as it heads into a long fade following what feels like a duly-weighted, riff-propelled culmination for what the rest of the record has offered up to that point.

As to that, much of the departure seems to be in the overarching feel rather than the structure of what Ferrier, Sweeney and Kathman are playing. Quintessence is still very identifiably a Valley of the Sun album, and benefits from the distinctive fullness of tone and spaciousness the band bring to desert-style heavy. If something is missing from the transition from four players to three, it doesn’t show on the record, though part of that might owe to the fact that in addition to Naclerio and Pete Koretzky, who plays guitar on the early slowdown “Where’s This Place?” (shortened from its original title “Where’s This Place I Roam?”) and their respective bass and drum duties, Sweeney and Kathman also contribute guitar alongside Ferrier‘s own. Fair enough. But “Where’s This Place?” is part of what’s different as well, as it sees the band more willing to throttle back the stage-ready energy that has characterized them up to this point in new ways, offering more complexity of mood. There’s bombast a-plenty in the crashing second half of “Graviton” and a fuzzed-to-the-gills sprawl set forth in “Theia,” but even the latter uses atmospherics in a more patient way, trading back and forth in volume, while “Aurora” and the corresponding side A interlude “Red Shift” deepen the contemplative impression and thus shift the context of Quintessence as a whole.

Is it a stark, radical contrast to the band Valley of the Sun have worked diligently to establish themselves as being for the last decade-plus? No. But neither does it feel like it’s trying to be. “Terra Luna Sol” sets out with a charge that reminds of earlier Solace, while “Palus Somni” pairs hard stops with more straight-ahead verse riffing, and even as Ferrier changes up around his central belt-it-out vocal approach in the early going of “Theia,” or “Palus Somni” and “Where’s This Place?,” he pushes his register on “Quintessence” in a way that is familiar even as it carries the adrenaline of that moment to another level entirely. Ultimately, it is the blend of the recognizable and the new — the proggy flourish of keyboard around the winding guitar in the first half of “Theia,” etc. — that gives Quintessence its distinguishing features, but for those who’ve followed the band, there’s little in the construction that would put one off; Valley of the Sun remain accessible and “Palus Somni” still sounds like it was composed to be played on stage. The difference is there’s more depth to the listening experience and the songs try some new ideas. Continued growth on the part of the band is not going to be a detriment to the audience hearing them, and sure enough, it isn’t as Quintessence unfolds.

It might be a little sadder than one expects Valley of the Sun to be, but I’ll allow that could also be reading into the evocations of “Red Shift” and “Aurora,” and that the album doesn’t just do one thing. That is, if “Where’s This Place?” and “Palus Somni” dare a bit of melancholy, the prevailing spirit of Quintessence is still electric, in both of those songs as well as “I’ll See Them Burn,” “Graviton,” “Terra Luna Sol,” and so on. And if it’s a question of one or the other — mind you I’m not sure it is — Quintessence adds much more to the scope of what Valley of the Sun do musically than it takes away, such that the title-track is given a due sense of arrival for the dynamic they’ve fostered throughout the preceding span. I don’t know what the band’s next chapter might be — they’re on tour now supporting Heavy Temple, which is a hell of a show to see if you can; they’re headlining in Europe this Fall — what the configuration of their lineup might be when they get there, or what it might have to say in building on the expression here, but four albums on, Valley of the Sun are evolving in their maturity while holding to the songwriting that’s been a major strength through their whole run to this point. There’s no level on which that isn’t a win, either conceptually or in execution.

Valley of the Sun, Quintessence (2024)

Valley of the Sun on Facebook

Valley of the Sun on Instagram

Valley of the Sun on Bandcamp

I’m pretty sure that by the time Valley of the Sun embark on this October run through the parts of Europe that are mostly Germany in the company of rad murk-doom up and covers Daevar, the second part of the Ohio-based heavy rockers’ Quintessence LP will be released. Led by guitarist/vocalist Ryan Ferrier, the now-self-releasing unit offered Quintessence Pt. 1 in early May, and the second five tracks of the total 10 that make up the offering seem to be slated for July as per their Bandcamp, while vinyl preorders are listed for Oct. 4 — better get those packages together before you head out, dudes — and CDs on Sept. 25. Pick your poison as regards formats — it’s gonna be fuzzy either way.

The run is taking place under the banner of Sound of Liberation, so appearances for Valley of the Sun at Up in Smoke, Keep it Low, Desertfest Belgium and Lazy Bones fests make sense, and you’ll note the Westill Fest in France closes the tour at the start of November. I don’t know much about that one — it’s probably been around for 30 years — but they booked Valley of the Sun, so at very least they’ve got that going in their favor.

SOL posted the following to socials this morning. Remember, if you’re someplace with a TBA, you should help if you can:

VALLEY OF THE SUN EUROPE TOUR 2024 WITH SPECIAL GUEST DAEVAR

Hey friends, we’re super stoked to present you the Valley Of The Sun Europe tour 2024!🔥

Special guest for many of the shows will be Daevar!💥⚸

Check out the dates below and grab your tickets!🚀

04.10.2024 (DE) Münster, Rare Guitar
05.10.2024 (CH) Pratteln, Up In Smoke
06.10.2024 (IT) Bologna, Freakout Club
07.10.2024 (IT) Altroquando, Zero Branco
08.10.2024 (IT) Bozen, Südwerk
09.10.2024 (AT) Innsbruck, PMK
10.10.2024 (DE) Nürnberg, MUZ
11.10.2024 (DE) Munich, Keep It Low
12.10.2024 (DE) Siegen, Vortex*
13.10.2024 (DE) Dresden, Chemiefabrik*
14.10.2024 (DE) Berlin, Zukunft*
15.10.2024 (DE) Hannover, Faust*
16.10.2024 (DE) Würzburg, Immerhin*
17.10.2024 (DE) Cologne, Volta*
18.10.2024 (DE) Erfurt, VEB Kultur*
19.10.2024 (BE) Antwerpen, Desertfest*
20.10.2024 TBA*
21.10.2024 TBA*
22.10.2024 (DE) Fulda, Kreuz*
23.10.2024 (NL) Nijmegen, Merlejn*
24.10.2024 (DE) Bielefeld, Forum*
25.10.2024 (DE) Den Bosch, W2*
26.10.2024 (DE) Hamburg, Lazy Bones*
27.10.2024 (DK) Copenhagen, Stengade
30.10.2024 TBA
31.10.2024 TBA
01.11.2024 TBA
02.11.2024 (FR) Vallet, Westill Festival
*w/ Daevar

Valley of the Sun are:
Ryan Ferrier – guitars and vocals
Chris Sweeney – bass, keys, and additional guitars
Johnny Kathman – drums, percussion, and additional guitars
(Additional guitars on Where’s This Place I Roam? by Pete Koretzky)

https://www.facebook.com/valleyofthesun/
https://www.instagram.com/valleyofthesunband/
http://valleyofthesun.bandcamp.com/

Valley of the Sun, Quintessence (2024)