The Valery Trails

For most groups, geography is an important part of their continued existence, but for The Valery Trails, it's less an obstacle and more a defining trait of their identity as a band. With Australian native/guitarist Andrew Bower currently residing in Houston and his brother (and bassist) Sean living in Brisbane alongside drummer Dan McNaulty, the chance for face-to-face contact and performances are few and far between. Despite the vast distances that separate them, they've managed to release a handful of albums, with their third, "Chameleon Bones," due out at the beginning of August.

For the power pop catharsis of recent single "OK," the band digs deeply into their Big Star and The Innocents influences to share their reconstruction of sugary melodies and catchy hooks. The song bursts forth like a bottle rocket flying skyward with little regard for anything in its way. The band isn't merely recycling the sound of their musical antecedents—they're completely rearranging these sounds to fit their insular concept of what power pop can be. The flash of fuzzy riffs and the telltale jolt of explosive percussion lets us know exactly what we need to know. These guys aren't trying to reinvent the wheel; they're trying to do something even harder. They're showing us what can happen when you mix a concrete respect for certain musical lineages with a brazen disregard for modern convention. - Nooga.com

This third album was made over two continents and there’s been a lot of living from the three members that make up The Valery Trails. Originally based in Brisbane, Australia, lead singer/guitarist Andrew Bower pulled up stakes and moved to Houston, Texas. Somehow, the band has soldiered on and this new nine-track collection is the result. Reminiscent in many ways of the late ’80’s sound of Fender Jazzmasters and some fuzz (think a toned-down My Bloody Valentine or a poppier Dinosaur Jr.), it’s a crisp gathering of songs that have melody and throttle.

“OK” is just that – tuneful, catchy and wholly memorable; “Cordless” is that perfect balance between the popsmithy and the noisy, but is a controlled chaos and the title track, “Chameleon Bones” is one of those delightful curiosities – slower, poppy, radio friendly and slightly enigmatic. “Fall Around” is another in that classic, sludge-y vein with heavy rhythm guitar but swirling riffs – a not-as-tidy Teenage Fanclub; “Hide (Cannot)” is a wonderful acoustic-bodied piece with some emotionally charged synth lines and “Change My World” closes the gathering of songs in a tight and thoughtful manner.

A good collection of songs that fit together and flow seamlessly – which is always the winning mark of an album. When a band can think the process out and deliver a work that’s coherent, you know they’ve done their jobs in total. The Valery Trails have done just that. - Popdose

Even before the needle hits Chameleon Bones, it’s easy to gather what musical direction we’re heading into. A grungy-looking trio, earnest song titles, production from Bryce Goggin (who produced, among others, The Lemonheads’ sad, classic Car Button Cloth). Those assumptions are indeed correct as soon as the opening ‘Ok’ glides into view – it’s time to don the flannel and fawn over Bridget Fonda, for we’re now knee-deep in ’90s nostalgia.

Australia has a knack for producing fine grunge outfits, from The Welcome Mat to Smudge and, latterly, Courtney Barnett, and The Valery Trails do a decent job of matching them riff-for-riff. The chief influence beneath the scuzz, though, is clearly R.E.M. ‘Ok’ has the playfulness of the Green era, while singer/guitarist Andrew Bower wraps his Antipodean affection around as many Michael Stipe-isms as possible. By the time we get to the title track, the only way Chameleon Bones could be more R.E.M. would be if Bower painted his face with a blue stripe and sang at a benefit for long-haired llamas.

Of course, emulating such a adored band is not a bad thing. Second song ‘Cordless’ matches the Athens’ band sense of grief with a guitar riff that weeps like J Mascis during his ’90s pomp, while ‘Doesn’t Have To Live Here Anymore’ may slightly pilfer the heart-on-sleeve sleekness of Toad the Wet Sprocket, but it matches it with harmony-heavy lyrics that lilt and plead like an Out of Time offcut. Closer ‘Change My World’ similarly has the unmistakable burr of Stipe and Peter Buck’s roughed-up jangle.

When The Valery Trails cut loose, it’s just as refreshing, particularly on the sludgy stomp of ‘Fall Around’, which brings to mind Bandwagonesque-era Teenage Fanclub.

Chameleon Bones is a solid record from start to finish, but alas, the Aussie rockers suffer from emulating a sound that has already been diluted profusely. It’s the best R.E.M. album since Reveal - Louder Than War

The Valery Trails will release third album Chameleon Bones on August 5. The members of the Valery Trails are spread out between Brisbane, Australia, and Houston, Texas, but “OK” makes them sound perfectly connected, a natural and addictive rock tune that kicks off Chameleon Bones with some loud optimism. - Magnet

This sophomore album hits it out of the ballpark with its firm grasp of neatly chugging rock that bristles with a wealth of tasty hooks and sparkling harmony. The vocals are smooth and expressive, the arrangements tight and tuneful, and the sharp songwriting once again ably explores a perfectly touching vein of bittersweet reflectivity. This is the type of music that lifts one’s spirits in the most direct and immediate way possible: There’s a straight-on honest sincerity at work that’s impossible not to be moved by. Moreover, this group sure knows how to rock out something stirring when the urge overtakes them, as the super snappy and rousing titular track irrefutably confirms. A lovely little gem. - Jersey Beat

Not a Grand Atlantic spin-off by any means, but The Valery Trails is the band/brainchild of singer/songwriter/guitarist Andrew Bower, big brother to Grand Atlantic's Sean Bower. The Valery Trails is Andrew's outlet for his evocative, gently psychedelic tales of desperation and longing. I'd previously reviewed the Valery Trails debut album, "Ghosts and Gravity" and as much as I liked it, in truth "Buffalo Speedway" is heads and shoulders above the debut.

Each moment of "Buffalo Speedway" is a journey down some misty road of mood and nuance with something surprising lurking just around each corner. Andrew has developed leaps and bounds as both a songwriter and guitarist since the debut. He still maintains his languid vocal style that slowly drags me in like a cloudy dream. His guitar works shimmers and glistens over the impeccable bass of brother Sean and drummer Dan McNaulty. Guest vocals by We All Want To's Skye Staniford are an angelic presence, as on the final cut "Rise and Fall" -- the lilting of her gorgeous voice perfectly complimenting and emoting Andrew's own tones. She helps to fill in spaces and adds another ethereal layer to the songs.

In addition to the presence of Skye, We All Want to is warmly represented by drummer Dan and vocals and outstanding production for Tim Steward. Working the dials with The Valery Trails, they combine talents to create an album that is energetic at times and unhurried at others. Always gorgeous. Always mesmerizing.

Grand Atlantic is also richly represented here by brother Sean's throbbing bass and keyboards by Morgan Hann.

Simply a gorgeous album from start to finish. And a special nod has to be given to the title track "Buffalo Speedway" as both the rockingest cut on the album, but also on a personal level as I used to live just off Buffalo Speedway in Houston myself. If there was ever a street name that begged to be a song title, this is it. Cheers Andrew. Well done. - The Ripple Effect

Brisbane’s Valery Trails skew more melodic than the bands listed above; their reference points are late ’80s college rock, which they channel into songs that are rugged and melodic — think the best moments of Sugar and Buffalo Tom and you’re getting close. In gently-gleaming “Hollywoodland,” frontman Andrew Bower recalls a week spent in a run-down hotel in Hollywood, and the insight it gave him into the other side of glamor — the city’s seedy underbelly where optimism begins to decay and despair slowly seeps in. But despite the lyrics’ dark subject matter, the song feels driving and triumphant, chords crashing like white waves on the beach as Bower stumbles in the dark toward an epiphany. - Wondering Sound

THE Valery Trails’ sophomore album Buffalo Speedway marks arguably the biggest success of Andrew Bower’s career to date.

The 11 songs that comprise the LP were found when Bower came across an old box with demo tapes in it and then convinced his fellow band members to join him in Brisbane (from the USA) to re-record the tracks. It goes some way to explaining why the alt-rock tracks have a classic, older school vibe about them.

Hence, some draw on Bower’s love for the late ’80s post-punk scene, and most notably bands like The Cure, while others have a more contemporary edge that draw comparisons with the likes of Nada Surf.

Most of the songs come steeped in toe-tapping melodies and are defined by catchy guitar hooks, as well as Bower’s lived in vocals.

Highlights include the utterly infectious In Your Heart, which combines an instantly head-nodding back-beat with some almost indie guitar hooks that resemble (vaguely) the heyday of the Stone Roses era. Put together with Bower’s gritty, yet hushed vocals, it makes for a potent cocktail.

Hollywoodland has a more laidback, slacker vibe akin to the likes of Psychedelic Furs (circa Pretty in Pink, while Children inflicts the guitar sound with a kooky organ melody that slides in and out playfully.

Waiting drops another of those more alt-rock slacker vibes akin to Dinosaur Jr or Nada Surf and is a great track to just kick back and enjoy on a lazy day, especially instrumentally, but with a vocal that sounds amplified as if sung through a vocoder or something.

Fragment Hanging rocks its way into your subconscious in fine fashion (with more classic riffs), There Is Love blatantly lifts from The Cure’s seminal Close To Me instrumentally (and could almost be a cover until the lyrics take it in a different direction), and Black And White has a beautifully sombre tone to it that, again, takes its cues from The Cure – but some of their more melancholy work. It’s dark but hypnotic.

Put together, this is a mighty fine listen from a band that deserves to find a much wider exposure. - Indie London

When i first heard “Feline,” off the Valery Trails’ forthcoming four track EP, Feline, I was reminded quite a bit of the Church’s Untitled #23 — a sort of psychedelic reverie but with a stripped down, lo-fi approach, unlike the Valery Trails’ critically acclaimed full-length, Ghosts and Gravity.

Feline will drop on October 1st so look for it on iTunes and other digital sources. - The Joy of Violent Meovement

"About fourteen years ago Andrew Bower, one of the members of The Valery Trails, followed his job to Papua New Guinea for a few months. Those months turned in to years and led to other stays abroad in Africa and the US. This put on hold any type of music making that The Valery Trails could do. With improvements in technology came the ability to send files via the internet and Valery Trails began a transatlantic recording process that culminated in the releasing of their debut album last year. Earlier this month I featured one of the songs from that album, “Horizon,” on my Strawberry Fields Mix. Recently I had the chance to interview Andrew, via email. It is the latest installment the Baker’s Dozen Interview Series. In this interview you’ll hear all about the album, home brewing, community radio stations, shopping cart shenanigans and mythical creatures ..." - write.click.cook.listen

"The road stretches out before you. A faint light on the horizon draws you closer. Behind you, the road fades to blackness. Distant memories, aching thoughts, painful dreams. They all descend in the rearview mirror. Fading slowly out of sight. As you drive on.

That's the feeling of Ghost and Gravity, the debut album from Australian-cum-Houstonian Andrew Bower. With his brother Sean Bower (from Australian Psych rockers Grand Atlantic) on bass and Dan McNaulty on drums, The Valery Trails examines the darkened nooks and crannies of empty spaces, wide open roads, dreams passed, and dim hopes in the future ; combining the semi-folky bend of the Go-Betweens with some darker worlds of Died Pretty and a touch of his brother Sean's band, Grand Atlantic's, dreamy pop. "On The Perfume River" is a telling opener. A fluid Church-esque cloud of psychedelia holds the tone while Andrew's voice floats over and between the lyrics, like a spectre of lost days. Add some soaring female harmony vocals and this song is as hauntingly beautiful as any I'd heard in a while.

"Straight Line" is another standout, with it's gentle guitar and pulsing bass. Reminds me of a fellow Aussie Paul Kelly at work in one of his more downcast moments. Near ambient but still with a beating pulse. Textured. Evocative. There's a hint of gothic country in the songs somewhere underneath the dream. "Words Fail" hints at a longing. A mourning from the distant past. There's a familiarity here, in the guitar tone. In Andrew's plea. But it may not be familiar in terms of the song, but rather in terms of the mood. The regret.

Not an album to get the party started, but a helluva way to cool down as the night fades to darkness and the ghosts from your past come back to visit." - The Ripple Effect

The Valery Trails’ debut album, Ghosts And Gravity, is an interesting intercontinental collaboration by two brothers from opposite sides of the globe, brought together through sheer determination and a shared love of music.
Originally from Brisbane, brothers Sean and Andrew Bower almost dissolved the band following Andrew’s departure overseas for work. It's this distance, however, that makes the album so interesting.
Recorded on other sides of the world, the result is a mixture of moody, guitar-led indie/pop tracks with a hint of rough-around-the-edges country.
Simple, ambient tracks such as On The Perfume River and Horizon take you back to early ‘90s alternative rock memories and Andrew’s vocals draw comparisons Michael Stipe. Another comparison to be drawn is In The Sun, a beautifully romantic song with an acoustic guitar line not too unlike Oasis’s Wonderwall.
This Town is a great, catchy pop number that discusses the disorientation of returning home after a long absence. Unfortunately the basic lyrics fall short of what the melody promises and don’t cut through as well as they could do.
The album is lifted by country-inspired I See A Light (another homecoming song) and (On The Needle Of) These Days wraps the album up in a comforting fashion with harmonies aided by guest vocalist Chenoa Farrell. The album's solid without shining.

Helen Lear - themusic.com.au

A trans-global brotherly collab yields pleasantly trippy results

Compared to many other Brisbane bands, The Valery Trails have had to deal with far greater distances than those between the suburbs and the Valley: vocalist/guitarist Andrew Bower resides in Houston, Texas while his bass-playing brother Sean can be regularly seen gigging with local power-pop stalwarts Grand Atlantic, who he co-founded. With We All Want To’s drummer Dan McNaulty completing the line-up, the trio have immediately (if inadvertently) positioned themselves as the River City’s answer to the current shoegaze revival – even if their principal songwriter spends most of the year in the US. Variously recorded by Bower, Darek Mudge and Paul Cox and mixed by NZ studio whiz Dale Cotton – AKA the man who helmed GA’s magnum opus Constellations – the finally-finished Ghosts And Gravity is a faithful tribute to late ‘80s/early ‘90s indie-shoegaze, the siblings’ musical heartland. One can hear echoes of Galaxie 500/Luna (Tonight I See), Underground Lovers (the opening On The Perfume River), early Black Cab (the fuzz-laden title track) and Ride (In The Sun) as Andrew layers chiming guitars, E-bow drone and his own dreamlike vocals and Sean maintains the laidback low-end rumble. Crafted with love, the LP isn’t overly sonically diverse, largely sticking to one hazy, fuzzy template – however these slightly narcotic songs would make perfect sense if they were listened to somewhere majestic like the Noosa cliffs, Cape Byron Lighthouse or The Twelve Apostles.

***½ - Rave Magazine

Aussie brothers Andrew and Sean Bower form the core of the Valery Trails, an understated pop-rock outfit that specializes in low-key, wistful tunes. Opening track “On the Perfume River” hits the sweet spot, with Sean’s gently propulsive bassline nicely underscoring Andrew’s guitar arpeggios and mournful vocals in a song that establishes a tone simultaneously backward-looking and forward-moving. At their best, the band mines this vein effectively, with songs like “Straight Line” and “Ghosts and Gravity” earning their emotional heft both from Andrew’s crooning and the band’s atmospheric instrumental work. Not every song is a winner—“Words Fail” and “As I Live and Breathe” both suffer from formless melodies and uninspired arrangements—but there are more hits than misses. If you’re looking to make your road movie about wide-open spaces and foolish choices coming back to haunt you, this just might be your soundtrack. - PopMatters

"This American/Australian outfit manages to conjure a trance-y vibe with a minimum of keyboard textures. The hypnotic aura of numbers like “On the Perfume River” establishes a sonic recipe that washes over the listener. Elsewhere they sound a bit like the better end of the 80s college rock/new wave spectrum, with hints of Echo & the Bunnymen and Modern English. Imagine a more laid-back, less excitable Midnight Oil. Subtle hints of other disparate styles – Americana, shoegaze – add to the musical breath of this release. Chiming guitars and sturdy songwriting make Ghosts and Gravity well worth checking out." - Musoscribe

"Songs that evoke a lonely landscape, but not any particular landscape. More a western, wide-open space than eastern back roads, I suppose. There's also a surprisingly insistent driving quality to this stuff, so the album moves by quickly. Most engaging." - Aiding and Abetting

"Marvelously moody and melancholy, this album broods it up with often beautiful and captivating results. The hushed vocals possess a certain quietly arresting quality and project a feeling of forlorn regret with admirable restraint. The arrangements really hit the soothing sonic spot as well, with the calm buzz of the guitars, the gentle undertow of the basslines, and the relaxed, yet persistent clip-clop of the drums seamlessly blending together to create a sound that’s mellow and mesmerizing in equal measure. The thoughtful songwriting likewise deserves kudos for the way it adroitly mines a finely affecting line in rueful reflectivity. An intoxicating cocktail of sheer aural pleasure." - Jersey Beat

"Overall Ghosts And Gravity is an enticing work of mid-fi melodics done up in a grey backdrop of fuzz and jangle topped with skimming vocals. Most importantly the resulting combo of song and sound keeps my attention to the end. " - Parasites & Sycophants

"This track “Horizon” appears on the band’s forthcoming album, Ghosts and Gravity. Interestingly this track kind of reminds me of Up-era R.E.M. I’ve been playing it a lot and have been obsessed with the track." - The Joy Of Violent Movement

Among major Australian cities, Brisbane is the closest to Houston - a mere 8,000 miles and some change, for what that's worth.

That span has proven the primary challenge to the Valery Trails, a Brisbane band whose singer has been living in Houston for more than a decade. One result of such a bicontinental band: The Valery Trails has made as many albums, three, as it has played concerts.








"We played three shows in Brisbane last year," says Andrew Bower, the band's singer, songwriter and guitarist. "So we've caught up."

The distance between Bower and his brother, bassist Sean Bower, and drummer Dan McNaulty makes touring a particularly expensive proposition. Right now the band has no plans to hit the road to promote the new "Chameleon Bones," but he's hopeful they may be able to do so next year by tying some gigs to the South By Southwest Music Conference in Austin.

Bower can still find the stage, though, like his 1 p.m. Saturday gig at Cactus Music.

As for the recording, the trio manages to communicate by sending files of demos and ideas to one another so that recording time becomes more efficient.




More Information

Andrew Bower of Valery Trails

When: 1 p.m. Saturday

Where: Cactus Music, 2110 Portsmouth

Free

"Chameleon Bones" displays no shortcomings from its difficult creation. The album is a brisk collection of songs that are fetching and melodic, but with buzzing guitars that draw from the shoegaze genre. Fans of classic guitar pop like Teenage Fanclub should find much to admire.

Bower and his brother had played in bands in Brisbane together before, but then he left to work in Papua New Guinea. "I never came back," Bower says. "So things sort of petered out for a while until I moved to the U.S."

A year-long assignment with Chevron has turned into more than a decade in here - "classic Houston story," Bower says - but during that time, technology made collaboration easier despite the distance for Valery Trails - the name pinched from a horse-riding center in Australia.

"We were on a long drive from Brisbane and saw a sign for it in the distance," Bower says of the name. "It just sounded like a mythical sort of satellite, or a magical land. It wasn't until after the first album that I thought to look and see what it was. 'Ah, horse riding. Makes sense.' "




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Despite, or perhaps because, the Valery Trails cross two hemispheres, theirs is music full of movement.

"It's a bit of a recurring theme for me," Bower says, "road songs, travel."

But the duality of an Australian living in Texas lends the songs a unique sensibility. Bower once crossed paths with Bill Janovitz, frontman for the rootsy alternative rock band Buffalo Tom, who "was quite gracious to us," Bower says. "More Brisbane than Texas was his comment."

Yet the song "Buffalo Speedway" took its name for a local street and lent its name to the band's second album.

"I Googled it, and I was surprised to find nobody had used it before," he says. "There was a comic book or a graphic novel with the title, but that was the only time it was used. It just seemed like a great title to me. It's my favorite street name."

For the most part, though, he doesn't recognize disparate sources for the songs.

"The Brisbane community radio station did a review that was all about how it was this Brisbane record," Bower says. "It was an interesting piece of writing. But I've also lived away from there longer than I lived there. But it's where my family is, and if you go back that's where my musical roots are, I guess. It's where I got started. It sounds pretentious, but I write pretty stream-of-consciousness, so sometimes I don't even know until later what a song is about." - Houston Chronicle

Among major Australian cities, Brisbane is the closest to Houston - a mere 8,000 miles and some change, for what that's worth.

That span has proven the primary challenge to the Valery Trails, a Brisbane band whose singer has been living in Houston for more than a decade. One result of such a bicontinental band: The Valery Trails has made as many albums, three, as it has played concerts.








"We played three shows in Brisbane last year," says Andrew Bower, the band's singer, songwriter and guitarist. "So we've caught up."

The distance between Bower and his brother, bassist Sean Bower, and drummer Dan McNaulty makes touring a particularly expensive proposition. Right now the band has no plans to hit the road to promote the new "Chameleon Bones," but he's hopeful they may be able to do so next year by tying some gigs to the South By Southwest Music Conference in Austin.

Bower can still find the stage, though, like his 1 p.m. Saturday gig at Cactus Music.

As for the recording, the trio manages to communicate by sending files of demos and ideas to one another so that recording time becomes more efficient.




More Information

Andrew Bower of Valery Trails

When: 1 p.m. Saturday

Where: Cactus Music, 2110 Portsmouth

Free

"Chameleon Bones" displays no shortcomings from its difficult creation. The album is a brisk collection of songs that are fetching and melodic, but with buzzing guitars that draw from the shoegaze genre. Fans of classic guitar pop like Teenage Fanclub should find much to admire.

Bower and his brother had played in bands in Brisbane together before, but then he left to work in Papua New Guinea. "I never came back," Bower says. "So things sort of petered out for a while until I moved to the U.S."

A year-long assignment with Chevron has turned into more than a decade in here - "classic Houston story," Bower says - but during that time, technology made collaboration easier despite the distance for Valery Trails - the name pinched from a horse-riding center in Australia.

"We were on a long drive from Brisbane and saw a sign for it in the distance," Bower says of the name. "It just sounded like a mythical sort of satellite, or a magical land. It wasn't until after the first album that I thought to look and see what it was. 'Ah, horse riding. Makes sense.' "




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Despite, or perhaps because, the Valery Trails cross two hemispheres, theirs is music full of movement.

"It's a bit of a recurring theme for me," Bower says, "road songs, travel."

But the duality of an Australian living in Texas lends the songs a unique sensibility. Bower once crossed paths with Bill Janovitz, frontman for the rootsy alternative rock band Buffalo Tom, who "was quite gracious to us," Bower says. "More Brisbane than Texas was his comment."

Yet the song "Buffalo Speedway" took its name for a local street and lent its name to the band's second album.

"I Googled it, and I was surprised to find nobody had used it before," he says. "There was a comic book or a graphic novel with the title, but that was the only time it was used. It just seemed like a great title to me. It's my favorite street name."

For the most part, though, he doesn't recognize disparate sources for the songs.

"The Brisbane community radio station did a review that was all about how it was this Brisbane record," Bower says. "It was an interesting piece of writing. But I've also lived away from there longer than I lived there. But it's where my family is, and if you go back that's where my musical roots are, I guess. It's where I got started. It sounds pretentious, but I write pretty stream-of-consciousness, so sometimes I don't even know until later what a song is about."

- Andrew Dansby - Houston Chronicle