In A Trance: Prince Graves’ “Secret Valley”

ByPatrick St. Michel

Ami Kawai is half of Tokyo band She Talks Silence, and she also has a solo project under the name Prince Graves. Her first full-length album, Half Awakening, comes out on May 24, and ahead of it she has shared the hypnotic “Secret Valley.” It’s a lithe number, centered around repeated words and small electronic ripples, the music building up slowly as the song unfolds, but Kawai’s voice locked in the same delivery that brings to mind someone in a serene state of mind. Which alone would make for a pleasant background chant, yet “Secret Valley” adds tension late in the song, when electric guitar creeps in and cuts at the song’s seams a bit, never ripping it apart but adding unease. Listen above.

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