Prog collective VLY will release their debut album on September 25 via Laser’s Edge.
The group is led by former Crippled Black Phoenix members Karl Demata and Chris Heilmann alongside singer Keith Gladysz of Diet Kong and Typical Reptiles, keyboardist Elisa Montaldo of Il Tempio Delle Clessidre and drummer Mattias Olsson, formerly of Anglagard.
VLY began with UK-based Demata trading music files with singer Gladysz in New York as they worked on demos for the record, called I, across the Atlantic.
Gladysz says: “It was a new way to work. The music and collaborative art I’ve made always started with people I knew, and creating naturally came out of that understanding.
“That’s not the case with VLY. We managed to make an album without ever meeting. There was no gauge or reference point except for the music. It was a total shot in the dark.”
The singer has yet to come full circle on his thoughts about the process despite the success of VLY’s first offering.
He adds: “I always disliked the cliches about music as a universal language, and more recently about the Internet bringing people together. I’m even more uncomfortable with those sentiments now, since VLY proved them true.”
I was engineered and produced by Demata with additional production by Gladysz and Olsen.
Earlier this year, VLY previewed the project with the lead track Circles.
VLY will soon unveil more details about I and an upcoming tour of Europe.
