Isaac Vallentin, PUP, and Elan Noon
Isaac Vallentin
Juma // Gatekeepers Of Love
Jeff MacCallum (founder of the Cups N Cakes Network): Branton, have you heard of Isaac Vallentin?
Me (Branton Langley, writer at large): Who the hell is this guy??!!
It took me but a moment to learn there are no lungs large enough to allow one to stay submerged in Isaac Vallentin’s lucid lyrics, nor his captivating vocals, and cinematic compositions. I’m putting myself out there, but I assure you, you will get lost in this alluring album! So who is Isaac Vallentin? Well, let's find out together.
The first thing I openly and agreeably accepted was Isaac sees, hears and thinks on a different artistic level. I’d encourage you to visit his Bandcamp page where he pens his thoughts, life, and soul to the reader. Bandcamp is one of the few places that provides fans with the artist’s liner notes in this streaming world we now live in. Isaac continues in this fashion throughout Juma - offering an open invitation into his subconscious. In his bio he wrote: “I was cracking up, and I can hear it on the recording, but there’s nothing I can do about it now.” A statement that confirms the creation, when allowed to, will over take the vessel.
Isaac Vallentin opens Juma with a lyrical tone and emotion that continues throughout the album. From the intro track “Bright As The Moon” - “Sometimes I forget that I’m dreaming when I talk to you. So when I wake, I wonder: were you dreaming too?” It was honestly this line that instantly drew me into the album and Vallentin, and left me wanting to discover what Juma had to say to me.
There is no question that it is essential to surround yourself with those who share your vision and passion for each and every song, and Vallentin did exactly that. His creative cast was: Alexandra O’Manique, Yolande Laroche, Michael Feuerstack, Owen Davies, Morgan Moore, Jamie Kronick, and Sebastien Perry. Furthermore; to solidify and glue the satisfying and emotional album together, Juma was recorded and mixed at Studio Mixart and mastered by Philip Shaw Bova. I credit this cast as I feel they were instrumental in creating a truly ear and mind pleasing creation!
I say with confidence that this is but the beginning for Isaac Vallentin. He has plugged into who he is and I deeply appreciate it. Incredibly, he created a video for every song, but with no shame, he explains the videos exist only to accompany the song which he wants you to hear. So please, HEAR Juma.
“Headphones. That’s the only way to listen to music. It’s all kinds of different emotions because you get real quiet and comfortable and just listen to it.” ~ Gregg Allamn
- Branton Langley
PUP
THE UNRAVELLING OF PUPTHEBAND // Rise Records
THE UNRAVELLING OF PUPTHEBAND is a fun-filled treat from start to finish. I was recently introduced to their music and had heard their single Robot Writes A Love Song before I even knew there was an entire album to come. And what a gift that album is. It’s chock-full of chaotically gorgeous instrumentals and both hilarious and interesting lyrics. You want to hear every song off this album, and then you will want to go back and start again! The inclusion of the Four Chords trilogy throughout was a wonderful choice, as it guides the listener down through the spiral. Each of these made me genuinely laugh out of pure humour and relatability.
This is PUP’s fourth album, described as “not just the next PUP record, but the *most* PUP record”. The songs were recorded over the course of a five-week isolation, and Babcock says, “As the weeks passed, we seemed less and less rational, objective, and sane”. A statement that rings so true for many of us, that if it isn’t the perfect summary of both this album and the current state of world affairs, then I don’t know what is. While it may not be the most accessible music to listen to if you are not used to alternative noise, the stories within each song are detailed, intriguing, and captivating. It would be nearly impossible to come up with nothing to relate to and dance along with when listening through.
The sonic jigsaw puzzle of synth, piano, horns, and every other noise that wakes you from a wacky anxiety dream, creates a “descent into self-destruction” that straps the listener in for the rollercoaster ride. The eccentric drop of doom. That funny feeling in your stomach that makes you laugh out loud while no longer feeling the ground below you. There is a pleasure in letting go, letting loose, and just expressing what you feel. This is the raw and true unravelling of a band that knows how to keep its audience entertained.
For long time fans of the band, I think this album will be a gorgeous addition to a rightfully earned place in their hearts. PUP proves, once again, that they know exactly what they’re doing by exploring and allowing themselves to not know what they’re doing. For new fans, like myself, this is a tasty treat that you can lean right into and savour from start to finish.
- Krystle McGrath
Elan Noon
Caricature // Self-Released
Elan Noon’s Caricature feels like a semi-rural household in the idyllic 1950’s, in the moments after some unspeakable horror has taken place.
A woman in her early-forties, skirt drawn up at the knee, is slumped over a glass coffee table, her blouse collar stark white against the crimson fluid leaked from a bullet wound in her neck. A small stack of Homemakers magazines is rendered slightly askew from under her resting arm.
Across the room in the foyer adjacent to the kitchen, a telephone dangles from its cord. Above the phone, a cork bulletin board, upon which letters marked OVERDUE and FINAL NOTICE are pinned next to a postcard of an old stately building in Louisville, Kentucky.
In front of the fireplace in the living room, a man lies face down, as though praying at an altar. The barrel tip of a shotgun peeks out from under his left shoulder, almost mirroring his tie, the tip of which breaches his right shoulder. Upon the mantle, several photographs- a man on a boat holding a fish, a bride and a groom cutting a wedding cake, a toddler holding an apple, and a small crucifix- are splashed with specks of blood and grey matter.
There is a filter that is applied to the songs- like a record player playing at a slower RPM, or a tape player with dying batteries- that wobbles them in and out of consciousness, like a narcoleptic after a pasta lunch. The effect is unsettling, and yet somehow entrancing and beautiful. It’s like the listener is hearing the cessation of vital signs, observing life-force vanish, from some snapshot of idyllic past.
Caricature feels like a memory, fatally hemorrhaging.
- Philip Morris
