Can you imagine yourself floating across the surface of the ocean and then throwing yourself deep in its soul where you can see and feel all the wafts of the water? Well, convert this sensational image in a palette of sounds and there you will find Valerinne.
Valerinne is a romanian post-rock band which came into the world on december 2011 with the urge to exceed sounds` limit in order to express more than feelings, the life itself. They describe themselves as `atmospheric, haunting, loud and emotional instrumental music from Bucharest`, because their music has an impact on the listener’s soul and it gives addiction. The name of the band, Valerinne, contrasts with the music’s sharpness by retrospecting to a female’s mildness. Moreover, none of the members have musical studies, even though their work result excels even well-established foreign post-rock bands. Valerinne means the guitarist Alexandru Das, the bass-guitarist Liviu Stoicescu and the drummer Mircea Smarandache.
Kunstformen der Natur
Valerinne’s hypnotic music demanded its own portrait in order to have all its features available for those who had the curiosity and courage to open their minds and heart to let the music effuse in their senses, so that is why ‘Kunstformen der Natur’ was created. ‘The artistic forms of nature’, the English translation of the album’s name, refers to german Ernst Haeckel’s zoological atlas filled with abstract illustrations. Somehow, this mixture of dark tentacled shapes blends perfectly with the five songs from the album.
`Messier` projects you in an energetic journey where time freezes. You are trying to surpass your own imagination by letting all the worries being captured in every musical note. The race for air does not seem to end and the music rhythm tends to accelerate your heart throbs. You are one with the sounds, the boundaries are gone.
Then you reach the `Mons`. The sky absorbs your thoughts and then it purifies your senses with the freshness of the guitar. With your eyes wide shut, you anchor yourself on the highest cloud and let yourself fall in the deepest dream.
You find yourself in `Ins meer`, somewhere beneath the water where all the sea creatures beseem to surround you in a mystical dance. Moreover, you become the puppeteer of its gracefulness. No one can touch you, not even reality.
Suddenly, `Medusa` captures you. Struggle. Decadence. Slyness. With every second, the battle between chaos and serenity leaves another mark. That is when the illusion cracks and your soul manages to recover its place.
In the end, you become `Aphelion/Perihelion`. For 12 minutes your body inhales the grandeur of the universe while every thought about life retrieves its place. Your soul readmits emotions, thenceforth, gradually, you turn into a human being again.
More than a language
Valerinne represents a compass for all the directions, not only North, because it give your soul the opportunity to choose where to go in order to find your own place. Even though it is a Romanian band, its music speaks in all the possible languages discounting the cultural or geographic differences. No matter where you are or how you feel, Valerinne manages to find a way to translate your soul. And that is why I am proud that a Romanian band can describe through its music the complexity of a transcendental journey and, at the same time, to be understood by every listener.
In conclusion, I recommend you to give curiosity a chance and visit Valerinne’s bandcamp site where you can even download for free their music. There is only a ‘click’ distance between you and the chance to reevaluate your own spirit, it might be the step that will change your perspective on music. So let the sounds in!
Photos copyright: Laurentiu Raducanu
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Articolul a câștigat premiul concursului Feature the Future, jurizat de jurnalistul de limba engleză, Oana Dan și prof. univ. dr. William Baker, College of Communications, Brigham Young University, S.U.A. Tema a fost Art that Makes Me Proud to Be Romanian.
