Hurt Valley Premieres New Single 'Geology Dreamer'

Hurt Valley, the enigmatic folk-pop project of Los Angeles' Brian Collins, shared a new single from his forthcoming debut album Glacial Pace today. "Geology Dreamer" premiered on Brooklyn Vegan, who wrote, "His laid-back, slightly twangy and very California style fits in perfect on a label that's been home to Woods, Kevin Morby and Hand Habits."

Listen to "Geology Dreamer" below!

Glacial Pace, an album inspired by Death Valley, is due out December 6 and also features the previously released single "Apartment Houses." It is available for pre-order here.

LA-based musician Brian Collins records music as Hurt Valley. He makes loosely psychedelic, often rollicking songs that feel like they came from a simpler time, before you realize that the simpler time you're thinking about never really existed in the first place, and you're just romanticizing a past that was as complicated as the present.

All this is to say that Collins makes songs that sound like they're ripped from a forgotten private press record from decades gone but imbued with the weight of right now. Glacial Pace opener "Geology Dreamer" is anthemic and sad, an end-of-the-night (or, let's face it, end of the world) jam that crumbles under lyrics about love and (healthy) obsession and getting through s with people you love and trust.

The last track on the album, "Immaterial Worlds" acts as a mirror image to the opener. Where "Geology Dreamer" hits hard and woozy, "Immaterial Worlds" is soft and intricate, a nakedly contemplative end to an album that sneaks up on you no matter where you might be when you hear it.

Listening to Glacial Pace will no doubt evoke a number of complicated feelings about how you could be living differently, or more simply. The songs here are something of a roadmap to understanding how we got where we are, and what it all means. It doesn't so much give answers as it does is point us toward observations that might push us to question who we are and what we do. Is there a better way to explain modern existence than the line "All we ever do is create immaterial worlds no one occupies in real life"? - Sam Hockley-Smith

Photo credit: Jess McIntosh