What starts as an upbeat, sun drenched indie pop groove by Ava Valianti on her song "Distant" eventually shows itself to be something with far more impact. Already at an age where she's too young to buy beer, Valianti has mastered a way to take complicated emotion and wrap it in unthinkably cheery melody and this might just be her most compelling contradiction. It’s an almost tropical production — all buoyant rhythms and warm synths — but listen closer and you’ll hear the pain in her voice (a problem shared with anyone who’s grappled with growing up), as this time, it’s the quiet drawing apart of childhood friendships.
And the star, here, is Valianti’s vocals; clear, nuanced and wise beyond her years. Yet still and I mean this maybe more than I’m getting at, she doesn’t oversell the sadness; she lets it lean into spaces between notes, between melody and tempo, the way in which her phrasing alters slightly out of shape as the chorus does. Masterfully the contrast between the sparkling instrumentation and the almost wistful resignation of the lyrics; life so often dresses its hardest lessons in quotidian moments.
But raw promise it shows Valianti is—and distant just confirms her as one of indie pop's most genuine new voices. Once, play it for the melody, once play it to find the story it tells. By the third listen you’ll be marvelling at how someone so young can articulate loss with such quiet precision.
