Valet

The solo project of Portland's Honey Owens -- who plays with bands including Jackie O Motherfucker and Nudge -- Valet focuses on droning soundscapes dominated by Owens' vocals and guitars. She recorded the songs that make up Valet's debut album, Blood Is Clean, from January to May of 2006. Describing her approach as "channeling sounds from an unknown place," most of the songs were recorded in one take, augmented by a few extra tracks. Blood Is Clean was originally released by Yarnlazer, a CD-R label run by Owens and <a href="spotify:artist:5xi43z2pbrEFFcxboQQKcq">White Rainbow</a>'s Adam Forkner (with whom Owens records with as World). Kranky reissued the album in spring 2007. The aptly named Naked Acid arrived the following year. After 2009's False Face Society EP, Owens took a break from Valet to focus on Miracles Club, the psychedelic dance project she founded with Rafael Fauria. She and Fauria also started a family, and it wasn't until 2014 that she began recording Valet songs with Fauria and multi-instrumentalist Mark Burden. The results were 2015's Nature, which found Owens reflecting on the changes in her life with a set of psychedelic folk-pop songs. ~ Heather Phares