Hunter Valentine are a three-piece female rock band with catchy songs and a lot of attitude. Setting the bar for other girl bands, they hail from Canada, but more recently have been taking the NYC scene by storm. Now on the leg of their European tour, the band present us with their second album, Collide and conquer.
An eleven track record filled with bouncy rock songs and the occasional rock ballad, their sound is tight with good guitar riffs and some intricate drum lines. Think P!nk meets the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, meets The Gossip, meets Avril Lavigne (her first good album that is). Kiyomi has an interesting vocal style, sometimes angry, punchy and aggressive, sometimes vulnerable, controlled and smooth. Her voice stands out from this collection of tracks, a prominent feature within every song. It shifts the album through the gears, gaining pace as it goes, and comes with the full force of a New York City, riot girl attitude, no apologies, no excuses, attacking the listener’s ears, and possibly, hearts.
This is an album about love, loss and heartbreak with stand out tracks like the opener ‘Liar Liar’, where Kiyomi sings, “You had your hands inside my pockets, taking away everything I own”, in a sweet yet bitter tone, and the nicely titled ‘Little Curse (shit happens)’ and ‘Gates of Hell’. The closer to the album, ‘The Great Canadian Love Song’, is a slowed down, emotional conclusion to the record. The lyrics, “It’s been so long since I’ve seen you happy, it’s been so long since I’ve seen you smile, I wish I could make you feel happy, I wish I could make you feel fine”, sum up nicely the tone of this album. Fighting for the one you love and trying to give yourself to them through thick and thin are undertones throughout. As a whole, this record makes for a good listen, although there are at times a few dips in either quality or levels of interest, there are enough well written and well executed tracks to see you through to the end.
The girls of Hunter Valentine have also been some of the stand out characters on reality show The Real L Word, which follows 20-something lesbians through the ups and downs of day to day life. This show has cemented the band as a favourite of the gay community, helping to get their music out, spread the word and tour around the world.
This is definitely an outfit worth checking out, both on record and live.
Release Date 17/06/2013 (Megaforce)
I have always had a passion for music. Growing up I spent many a Friday night glued to TOTP and many a Sunday attempting to record the Top 40 to tape. In secondary school I learnt the guitar and drums as well as being in every choir, sound crew and production I could. Finally, It was at University in Chester where I began to start writing reviews. Until then I didn't really think anyone would want to know my opinion. We had a guest lecturer come in and he had us do a minute task where we listened to a song and them had to write a descriptive one liner about it. I realised from this point that I could combine creative writing, music knowledge and opinion into something productive and interesting. That's when I signed up to Silent Radio. It was the perfect thing for me to get involved with, I could voice my opinion on the student airwaves and then write it for the website.Now I am a Music Production and Radio graduate, living in London and working my first industry job. I spend my days working at Metropolis Studios and my nights attempting to write well educated, witty and interesting reviews.When it comes to my taste in music I guess it's rather varied. I will pretty much give anything a listen. The genres closet to my heart would probably be rock, soul, funk and dance but thankfully my job is broadening my listening horizons even further. As a reviewer I would say I have a fan type approach and sometimes I am a little to generous when turning that dial but they are always honest and I hope to some degree, relevant. My hopes are to continue writing for SR, growing as a reviewer and expanding my music knowledge.
