Watching the video for “Vaulted,” the most recent offering from Lovina Falls (the current project of former Mistle Thrush vocalist Valerie Forgione), I was struck by a sudden sense of familiarity. The video begins at a local fair somewhere or another – and it’s a well known point of fact that every small-town local fair shares at least 9/10s of its ride repertoire with every other of its kind in existence. The layout of the rides, however, was somewhat different from the one I’m used to, leaving me with a distinct impression of recognition balanced with new intrigue. The video moves on to other locales, changing from open field, to carnival, to early 20th-century vaudeville playhouse, but that same feeling of familiarity persists throughout.
I’m left to wonder what conjured in me the lingering nostalgia that haunts this wonderfully moody track. Maybe its’ the crooning David Bowie-esque vocals Forgione lends to the verses, or the Alt-90’s 4 Non Blondes-style gives the chorus.
Some sleek modern production values serve to reassure us that we are not, in fact, forgetting ourselves, and that “Vaulted” is truly brand new: a delightful amalgamation of old-school songcraft served up with a modern character.
Featured on Lovina Fall’s recently minted LP Calculating the Angle of Our Descent, “Valuted” feels like a tune that used to spin in your head over and over again that you had merely forgotten, as fresh now as it was at first play.