Narc. Magazine Online
Reliably informed
Kai Palmer talks to Laura Kovic from the Durham-based power pop band about their joyous second album
Image: Fortitude Valley by Sonny Malhotra
Fortitude Valley’s soothing indie pop transfixes the listener into an endless, joyous state. Since their self-titled debut, they’ve been itching to continue their journey and share more infectious music with the world, and now their second album, Part Of The Problem, Baby, is almost here.“It’s been a long time coming. 2021 was when the last album came out and then there was Covid, so a lot of hopes and dreams were destroyed and gigs that we had booked in were cancelled. We never got to properly do an album tour.”
Lead singer and founder Laura Kovic is relieved that things are going as planned this time, and after listening to the new album it’s absolutely clear they deserve to show off their masterpiece.It’s been four years since the first album, and in that time, Fortitude Valley have gone through a journey behind the scenes, including line-up changes. “In terms of the music itself, I definitely think it’s a step forward, I think it’s a little bit heavier, but I also tried to improve my guitar playing. The songs have stepped up a notch because I tried to push myself on guitar.”
Evidently, practice does make perfect, as the guitar playing on tracks like Totally and Video (Right There With You) is incredibly immersing. Video is about surviving in an increasingly hostile world, and while you may suspect that Laura’s songwriting is her reaction to the world through music, that’s not all: “I took inspiration from movies, television and games. Video was about the relationship between Ellie and Joel in The Last of Us game. Obviously, it can be applied to modern times, but I wrote it about Joel.”
Amongst the album’s intriguing influences, the main overarching theme is growth, as well as the disruption of the 2020 pandemic, which affected Laura’s life massively, and so is understandably weaved throughout. “I’m from Australia, and I didn’t see my family for like three years and then just before lockdown I’d moved from London to Durham. There’s a song called Red Sky that is about moving away from all of your friends but still watching what they’re doing on social media and seeing everyone hangout without you.”
On Part Of The Problem, Baby, more pensive tracks like Don’t You Wanna Be Near Me? ask, “did I misread every single cue you sent me?”, but the track’s beautifully colourful lead guitar and Laura’s sweet, melodic voice are both so uplifting that it makes the band themselves a metaphor for elevating yourself over the complexities of a challenging world.Laura’s ability to contrast these themes isn’t always intentional and is a happy consequence of her songwriting process. “The melodies come first and the lyrics usually come second. I’ll be messing about on guitar and I’ll hum something, and then I try to fit lyrics to it. Throughout my life of writing songs, that has pretty much always been the case.”
