BOSTON, Mass. [August 6, 2024] — Since arriving on the scene a little over a year ago, Lovina Falls continues to have a transportive effect on the listener. The genre-bending art-rock project from Boston singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Valerie Forgione conveys through music and visuals an uncanny ability to deliver us into her enchanting sonic landscape of fantasy and escapism. Earlier this summer, Lovina Falls released a propulsive single in “Tragedy,” described as “elegant baroque-pop drama” by The Boston Globe, and the fast follow-up arrives via a Joan Hathaway-directed music video for an affecting new electronic-leaning track titled “Ellery Way,” set to premiere on Tuesday, August 6.
Both the track and the video for “Ellery Way” debut a few days before Lovina Falls’ August 10 appearance at The Sinclair in Cambridge, where Forgione and her band share the stage with English post punk legends Chameleons. It’s just the fourth Lovina Falls live show since the project formed, bringing the Mistle Thrush vocalist back to the stage after a decade away, following a headlining July 4 weekend set at The Rockwell and a spring appearance at the Rock and Roll Rumble.
The sweeping “Ellery Way,” which builds as a slow roll over its four minute runtime with a calm urgency and confident embrace, further showcases Forgione’s blossoming creative vision, curating a new musical world where Hathaway’s direction brings her cinematic sounds into panoramic view. The song was written with a visual component in mind, and acts more like a video release than a traditional single.
“‘Ellery Way’ is about being blissfully unaware of external chaos and breathing in a beautiful moment,” Forgione says. “It’s about navigating unfamiliar places with someone and embracing them fearlessly. It’s about taking control of your world – not letting the world take control of you.”
And it provides a follow-up to a storyline first introduced within the lush, dark cabaret of “Tragedy,” Forgione admits, where the June single and its angry and provoked reaction to our chaotic world give way to the peaceful moments we have with those who we love and trust. “Ellery Way” isn’t an end to the chaos we ensure every day, but rather an escape from it, a love-letter to those who help transport us somewhere else – whether it be physically, mentally, or emotionally – when we especially need it most.
“Where ‘Tragedy’ is post-apocalyptic, with its themes of isolation, disappointment, and struggle for personal meaning in a chaotic world, ‘Ellery Way’ is about connection, imagination, and appreciation for a shared and fantastic reality,” she adds. “It invites us to escape and encourages us to recognize and hold on tightly to what is extraordinary. Given the precipice it seems we are all teetering on, it felt like the timing was right.”
After Mistle Thrush took an indefinite break in the early 2000s, reuniting briefly in 2011 and 2014, Forgione focused on theater work around the Boston area, writing scores for local theater productions as well as contributing music for podcasts and select indie films. After debut album Calculating the Angle of our Descent dropped in Spring 2023, where Forgione performed nearly all the album’s instrumentation, she rolled out a series of well-received music videos in “On Your Side” and “Vaulted.”
And so the video for “Ellery Way” marks the third collaboration with Hathaway, one of the Boston music scene’s most in-demand directors. Here, the themes of love and comfort in a dystopian landscape flash across the screen in vivid hues and dusty flashbacks, as Forgione sings from above while narrating a guiding light that helps the couple find a way out of the darkness, showcasing the strength of companionship in seemingly impossible times.
“Joan and I met at the diner to discuss the song’s theme, and over a sandwich, I handed her an hourglass and said my only prerequisite was that the video includes a scene with two people inside,” Forgione admits. “Joan immediately formed the narrative, with two individuals enjoying each other’s company while the world around them erupts in chaos.”
She adds: “To me, music is a multi-dimensional and visceral experience. A piece of music is more than just words or song structure; it’s about how the sounds are shaped, it’s about volume, dynamics, the colors it may evoke, and the emotions or images it might inspire. Incorporating a visual component helps to make these things more tangible. It’s like adding another instrument that enhances the immersive quality of the experience. Joan’s style is very complementary to the songs, and with ‘Ellery Way’, the storyline unfolds at the same cautious speed as the song itself.”
Lovina Falls
Lovina Falls is the new solo project from Valerie Forgione. The album “Calculating the Angle of Our Descent” features textured pop songs where dark piano melodies gracefully intertwine with the warm alto tones of her unique, yet familiar voice.
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