Start Listening To: Dolly Valentine

Dolly Valentine's journey into the In-Between realms of music.

Dolly Valentine’s latest album The In-Between was crafted in a secluded church in the Scottish Highlands, accompanied by traditional Scottish musicians. The immersive environment and the producer's hands-on dedication enriched the album's sound, inviting us into the darkness and depth of her creations. In this captivating Q&A, Dolly Valentine reveals her creative process, blending automatic writing and dream work to express complex emotions in a simple, relatable way.

For those unfamiliar with your music, can you tell us who you are, where you’re from and about the music you make?

I’m a musician. Dolly Valentine. Dolly was my Grandmother’s name. She grew up in Kansas during the Great Depression. I was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. I grew up in a typical American suburb in Michigan. I was a shy, emotional kid and was a competitive horseback rider. Music found me later in life. I make whatever music comes out of me. I don’t feel like it has a genre. It has some pop and folk elements. The sound of my music is defined mostly by the different musicians who play on the recordings.

Can you discuss your creative process and how you strive to express complicated emotions and experiences in a simple and relatable way?

For my new album I used a technique called automatic writing as well as dream work. The songs were written fast or came from a dream, then I spent weeks combing through them, decoding the meaning until it felt finished. It’s an energetic game. I bring the raw vocal and acoustic guitar into the studio, everything else is built spontaneously with live instruments.

The new album The In-Between was recorded in a secluded church in the Highlands of Scotland with traditional Scottish musicians. How did this unique location and collaboration shape the overall sound and atmosphere of the album?

The sound of the album is the living experience of making it. The producer Jamie Smith, who doesn’t have an i-phone and lives at the church where we recorded, worked every second of every day for a month with me. It was exciting and invigorating to be so hands on with someone around every aspect of the sound. We all went a bit crazy but I think it was for the best. The days are short in the winter in Scotland. We woke up in the dark and finished each day in the dark. That darkness, and the immense depth of the environment, was an unavoidable influence. Also, the ‘sound’ is the sound of the room, because it's recorded in an old stone church. You hear the environment and the live musicians playing together on the album.

You have lived in various places around the world, including The Azores, Italy, Ireland, Sardinia, and Scotland. How has your transient lifestyle and exploration of different landscapes influenced your song writing and creative process?

I explore ancient sites and sacred places. I love history and traditions. I try to infuse myself with the material of each place I travel through. These places influence my dreams and my database of visual and emotional material. It’s like a big tapestry and it spills over into the music. It puts me into a more hawk-eyed view of Earth and helps me see things from a bigger perspective. Travelling isn't always easy, so it makes you more adaptable and less identified with your own storyline. Not all the songs on the album are directly about me. Some are fantasies of people that manifested from an environment into a song, including collective archetypal characters like Elvis and Annie Oakley who appear on the album.

Your time studying Jungian Dream Analysis, ancient sites, and psychology seems to have had a profound impact on your artistic journey. How have these areas of study informed your approach to songwriting and the themes explored in your music?

A song is similar to a dream, we don’t always know where it comes from, it has a message, it can make us uncomfortable or at peace, it can bring out our shadow. Ancient sites are the same, we project our ideas onto them and they make us feel something about being human.

"Blueberry Room" reflects the bittersweet and decaying nature of the spaces we occupy. How do you explore the lessons learned from these spaces and the kaleidoscope of memories that they hold in your song writing?

It’s peaceful to imagine the deeper inevitable reality of all things by accepting the cycle of death and rebirth and the fact that nature will outlast all social constructs. When I’m able to do that, I realize what a miracle this experience is and ironically, I feel way more alive. It’s really hard to feel whole in the times we live in. We are always being projected back at ourselves and that’s depressing. People are more motivated by imitation than reality itself. So, somehow being a bit fatalistic is kind of beautiful and helpful so we can wake up to our free will.

Your music has been compared to artists like Phoebe Bridgers, Weyes Blood, and Aldous Harding. How do you feel about these comparisons, and who are some of your biggest musical influences?

I don’t know. I don’t feel anything about it really because it’s obviously all very different music but all great too so it's a compliment. I can’t see myself - so I can’t compare myself to others properly. I don’t really have any influences musically. Mostly I’m influenced by nostalgia and hope I guess. The visions that come from both of those things.

As a self-taught singer-songwriter, what challenges and rewards have you encountered on your artistic journey? How has your approach to music evolved over time?

I used to try so hard and felt I had to prove myself. It really wore me down. I worked through most of that, and now I know my worth and have more love for myself. Of course those feelings can always resurface but knowing how to deal with them is the key. I make music because it’s so much a part of my natural being and it’s a healthy thing for me. I think it's sad how much expectation there is to be constantly engaged in social media and constantly creating content. So much pressure is not healthy for the mind or body and it’s shameful that artists are treated with so little respect and yet expected to just keep churning out quality things. I hope it gets better. We can only move forward.

What do you love right now?

I love lying in the sun (I’m in Scotland now so when the sun comes out it’s the best feeling because it rains so much) and I’ve been foraging ‘self-heal’ flower and meadowsweet flower for tea. I love singing “The Water Song” It’s a powerful

Algonquin song for the water, you can sing it to the sky.

What do you hate right now? 

I hate that we live in a time where people are so disconnected from nature. I hate that there is a collective feeling of hopelessness. I hate that people don’t talk to each other as openly as they should.

Looking ahead, what are your aspirations and goals for the future of your music?

Just to keep making music and see where it takes me.