Chad Valley, Stranger Cat

A product of Oxford's prolific creative community, Chad Valley has a catalogue that spans three studio releases – 2010's self-titled debut EP which was a bedroom exploration in swirling synths and sunburnt melodies. 2011's Equatorial Ultravox expanded that recipe, giving his downtempo productions a decidedly more pop leaning twist. It was with Equatorial Ultravox that Chad Valley's profile grew substantially, thanks in part to single
'Shell Suite' being used by Alex Patsavas in the major movie, Warm Bodies, and a string of key touring slots supporting the likes of Active Child, Chvrches, Erasure, Friendly Fires and Passion Pit. In 2013, Chad Valley released Young Hunger, his first proper album and one that saw him further embrace his pop ambitions. The material was a modern collage of 80's freestyle jams and 90's radio singles, featuring an impressive list of collaborators including El Perro Del Mar, Glasser, TEED and Twin Shadow. In support of the record, Chad Valley toured the world, winning over fans with his stellar voice and impassioned performances.

Now, two years later, Chad Valley's Hugo Manuel is back with his sophomore album, Entirely New Blue. The record is an exploration in identify and a return to the places that comfort us, especially when we return to them a different person. The album was written between London, where he lived for years with his long-term girlfriend, and Oxford, the town that he came home to when their relationship ended. That painstaking transition is evident across the record's nine tracks, perhaps mostly on slow-burners "Labasa" and "Seventeen". The former of which is the namesake village in Fiji where his grandmother was born. Unlike previous material, and embodying the spirit of the music, Hugo's voice appears higher in the mix and rinsed clean of effects on most tracks. Similarly, the production is more stark, providing Hugo the space to do more with less. Working with producer Joel Ford, the ethos of stripping away everything that's not immediately useful is apparent.

Entirely New Blue will be released on October 2 via Chad Valley's longtime label home, Cascine. North American and European tours have been routed for fall.


Raised in the urban sprawl, Stranger Cat—a musical project from Cat Martino —was born out of a respite in the wilderness. As most stories go, she was seeking a noiseless place for musing, but found instead a sentient beast stalking through the woods, be it animal, alien, or deity; she memorized its sound.
Though it's possible you can't place her name, if you've been paying attention to independent music over the past several years you have almost certainly heard Cat Martino's voice. The Brooklyn native was Sufjan Stevens' right hand woman for Age of Adz and All Delighted People albums and world tour, recorded/toured with Sharon Van Etten circa Epic,
she sings on the new Son Lux record Lanterns, appeared
with The Shins on SNL and Williamsburg Park. She has opened tours in US or EU for Marissa Nadler, Indians, Night Beds, Rufus Wainwright, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Patrick Watson, Gardens and Villa and more.
In 2012, Cat retreated from Brooklyn to spend the winter in the Sierra Foothills, writing and recording new songs. In snowed-in seclusion, simple melodies or beats morphed into walls of sound, sequenced in patterns of many-layered complexity.
Joined by partner in crime and multi-instrumentalist Sven Britt, each of them recorded and produced each other to make the Stranger Cat songs grow.
Often a cat would come to the sliding glass door to listen, meowing to be let in. When it appeared daily they called it Stranger Cat, and observed its alien supernatural powers, as she'd heard tell of the Foothills' long history of UFO sightings and ghost haunts. One day they let Stranger Cat in. The plump feline ate all the kitty food and left.
For live shows, Cat & Sven concoct a mesmerizing set of sound, much bigger than just their duo. They stand out by creating an aurally and visually vivid and energetic performance, making live loops onstage using voice, synths, and drum machines, while playing guitars, and various other instruments and pedals. All of this is to serve the song - dark, sexy, soulful, playful and dream-like - that might just make you let yourself go and dance a little bit.