Photo: June Lion

The Vale, the duo of Marissa Deitz and Chace Wall, recently moved to Oakland from Chicago to study music composition at Mills. Not only is it wonderful to hear about great musicians continuing to move to the Bay, the story of how The Vale got together is a great one. Wall explains:

We were both dating other people when we met, but I liked her so much that I just wanted to do whatever it would take to be together. I wrote and recorded “So Would I” and, after a lot of nail-biting and internal debate, sent it along to her. The lyrics sort of try to say “I know you’ve got someone and I’ve got someone, but I’m willing to make a mess of all this if you are.” She sent it back to me with vocal harmonies and cello added to the recording I’d made, and then proceeded to show me a lot of songs she’d written to me but hadn’t sent (“What I Know” and “I Am No Robot” among them). So that was essentially how our band and our life together got started: a big leap into the unknown. The spirit of risk-taking and adventure that got us here is definitely something we’ll continue to embrace.

The result is a dreamy mix of folk, pop, and plenty of reverb that will fit in just fine with their new local scene. The couple has recently married and are just settling into their new digs, but plan to begin recording and playing shows later this year. The Vale’s debut album From Another Room is below.