In The Valley Below is a Los Angeles alternative duo comprised of Jeffrey Jacob and Angela Gail. The duo creates moody synth pop with catchy choruses and hazy instrumentals. Ahead of its performance Saturday in the Ballroom at the BUKU Music + Art Project, The Daily Reveille sat down with Gail to talk about the band’s origin, its sound and what to look forward to at BUKU.
The Daily Reveille: How did you and Jeffrey form this duo?
Angela Gail: Well, Jeffrey and I played in different bands around L.A. and decided to start a project where we would just practice our recording and songwriting skills and not play live. Then, our now-manager heard a song, and here we are today.
TDR: How did you come up with the name “In The Valley Below?”
AG: I was actually inspired by my favorite Bob Dylan song called “One More Cup of Coffee.” In the song, he sings about going to the valley below, and we wanted to create an atmosphere and a feeling of songs coming from that valley. We thought “What’s in that valley below?” Everyone has their own interpretation of it, so we wanted to use that.
TDR: Who would you say are your biggest musical influences?
AG: For this particular band, we were at this cabin in the woods in Michigan one weekend, and a radio station was playing power ballads all weekend. They were power ballads from the ’70s and ’80s, and we were wondering why isn’t anyone writing big songs like this anymore. These are songs that are catchy and maybe cheesy but make you feel so good. So, we wanted to write some power ballads. Specifically, our influences are people like Phil Collins and Peter Gabriel.  
TDR: How did you craft your sound? Did you go into it knowing how you wanted to sound?
AG: We just kind of wait until something makes us feel a certain way. If we both like it, we use it. We did have a few parameters. We wanted to experiment more with synthesizers and keyboards because we’re both guitar players.   
TDR: How do you feel when you listen to your own music?
AG: Wow, I don’t know. I guess I can’t really listen to it as an outsider or spectator. I just criticize it.
TDR: This is your first time at BUKU. What are you looking forward to the most?
AG: I think just being in New Orleans. We love going down there. We’re just looking forward to being in the city. Personally, I like the underground darkness of the city. You can just feel that when you’re there. Also, the food, of course, and we have some friends there so all those things combined. 
TDR: Is there a big difference for you between the festival stages and venue stages?
AG: Definitely. When you’re in a venue, there’s a lot more people there to just watch you, so you can kind of play whatever. At a festival, you usually have a little less time to perform, and you want to get new fans and gain the attention of people, so you’re sort of performing for people who don’t really know you, which is our case because we’re a newer band. That’s the big difference. We always perform a little earlier in the day because we’re newer, and everyone is a little bit more sober.
TDR: What’s in store for In The Valley Below?
AG: Well, we’re working on a lot of new material right now. Hopefully, we can get out there to more ears so we can put on bigger shows. We’re not sure when we’ll be back to New Orleans, but hopefully in the fall. We’ll also be doing a lot of summer festivals around the country. Right now, we’re just trying to write music that’s better than we’ve ever done.      
You can reach Kayla Randall on Twitter @kay_ran21.

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