Frankie valet

Frankie Valet largely retired after 2020 but members now play as the bands Doug, Algae Dust, and Ingram.


“The songs that we return to throughout our life are often, ironically, songs that we come to in a period of change: melodies that soundtrack love lost or direction found, lyrical fragments that invite us to process, a vitality that pushes us with confidence into unfamiliar territory. Frankie valet write those kinds of songs.

After a period of rotating through members, the lineup coalesced around the time the band recorded 2018’s Stop Apologizing, a charming and often understated document of a young band in transition.

Waterfowl, on the other hand, is something else entirely—an ambitious showpiece for a band simultaneously hitting their stride and exploring their range. Contemplative slowcore, MBV-indebted fuzz, post-punk propulsion, and good old-fashioned guitar heroics find a home on this record, often in the same song. The compositions are as unafraid to explore the corners of a placid groove as they are to veer off unexpectedly; mid-album highlight “Soft Skin” perhaps best captures this perfect blend of patience and restlessness, and the effect is something like Yo La Tengo with unmedicated ADHD.

Waterfowl is a record that invites closeness as an antidote to voicelessness, that celebrates shared growth in all its thrills and embarrassments. And best of all, it’s just the first step.”
- Nathan Tucker