Valley Lodge – Shadows In Paradise

Our familiarity with Dave Hill and Valley Lodge goes all the way back to 2013’s Use Your Weapons. Hill is a stand up comic and an author, too. With all that, he may be best known as the man who wrote the theme song to This Week Tonight with John Oliver. His band’s latest, Shadows In Paradise is out now on Tee Pee records.

With an impressive and diverse body of work, It’s a wonder Hill isn’t better known by now. That is, until you perform an online search for “Valley Lodge”. The first entry is a paid opportunity to book your reservations right now!  The name isn’t exactly seo friendly. But the band’s LPs are radio friendly and that’s half the battle. Full of power pop nuggets that borrow from the past while adding Dave’s admittedly juvenile sense of humor, Shadows In Paradise follows the successful formula established by the four albums that came before it.

More Sitar (& Even More Fun)

Built on a repetitive guitar motif, “Daylights” sits in a comfortable groove and delivers a killer- catchy chorus. “Doorstep” uses similar elements to maximum effect. Dave hits a high note – quite literally – with “Secret Lover”. The Gibb brothers would be proud.

“Dirty Dishes” channels yesterday’s soul sounds to create a really hooky, entertaining track. As good as these early songs are, the payoff comes on the second half of the record. “Trouble” is really catchy with its wonderful keyboard arrangements. The straight up guitar pop and call & response chorus of “Out Of Time” is one of the more memorable 3 and a half minutes on Paradise. And the sitar and string arrangements on “That Love” are a great way to finish.

Get Shadows In Paradise Now

Never taking themselves too seriously, Valley Lodge manage to continually churn out one fun record after another. This is what pop should be, in my opinion. For those who are already fans, Shadows In Paradise is more of the same good sh*t. For those not yet initiated, if you like Thin Lizzy, T Rex and The Bee Gee’s, you’ll really dig this. GET IT HERE.

UPDATE 5/7: COMING SOON TO CD ON KOOL KAT MUSIK!!!