2023 finds Deap Vally reclaiming its legacy anew – even as the band concludes the journey it began just over a decade ago. Not long after a chance meeting in a knitting class, the duo of Julie Edwards (drums and vocals) and Lindsey Troy (guitar and vocals) unleashed Deap Vally’s first release, 2012’s ferocious “Gonna Make My Own Money” single, on the tiny U.K. indie, Ark Recordings. From that auspicious launch, Deap Vally went on to spawn three albums of powerful, idiosyncratic, maximally minimalist rock – SISTRIONIX (2013), Nick Zinner-produced FEMEJISM (2016), and MARRIAGE (2021) – that played by their own rules. That was in addition to the L.A.-based group’s groundbreaking collaborations spanning the likes of Peaches, Jamie KT Tunstall, Jamie Hince and Soko, even an entire joint album recorded with Flaming Lips (DEAP LIPS, 2020) – all while sharing stages on numerous tours, shows, and festivals with Blondie, Garbage, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Queens of the Stone Age, among other notables.
During this vibrant, turbulent era, however – as the music industry dropped new artist-unfriendly disruptions on the regular, all while daily life brought on challenges spanning pandemics to pregnancies – the members of Deap Vally found themselves struggling to fit into a now-obsolete recording and touring cycle. “That model isn’t compatible with our current lives,” Troy notes. ““We found we just can’t function as a traditional band anymore,” Edwards continues. “It was time for both of us to explore motherhood and other aspects of our lives and ambitions properly, rather than fitting it into our careers.”
To commemorate its swan-song moment, Deap Vally will perform a series of final concert appearances, as well as release a dynamic re-recorded version of its debut LP, entitled SISTRIONIX 2.0, on the band’s own Deap Vally Records – allowing its next evolution to happen unburdened by expectation. “We’re just going to go to play as many places as we can and say farewell to everyone,” Edwards says. “Though the band is playing live for the last time, the door is open to us to collaborate. Now we’re all about re-establishing a workflow and connection around our friendship, after all we’ve shared together along the way.”
“I’m so proud of all our records, and Julie and I have an uncanny creative relationship,” Troy adds. “It’s hard to ever picture having that with someone else. After all that, ya never know what could happen! We need to find the balance where we can focus on the fun stuff, but have the freedom to make the music we love. We just felt it would be fitting to go out with a bang, not a whimper. I felt marking this occasion should be a cathartic process: healing deep wounds, reconnecting with old friends and collaborators – and falling in love with Deap Vally all over again.”
[Matt Diehl]
