Born to a rock musician and a Playboy Bunny, Detroit-bred singer/songwriter Victoria Reed grew up in a Greek and Italian family that believed as much in the power of the mystical as they did the power of song. Surrounded by music from an early age (her father, the late Alto Reed, rose to fame playing saxophone in Bob Seger’s Silver Bullet Band), she began writing her own songs as a way of working through the emotional tumult of adolescence. When it came time for college, Reed moved to Chicago to study philosophy, where she added guitar to her repertoire and began self producing lo-fi bedroom recordings before dropping out a semester shy of her philosophy degree upon existential crisis and a serendipitous invitation to move to Brooklyn to record her first studio album.
She released her debut record, ‘Chariot,’ to universal praise. Vice Noisey called the album “near magical,” while Paste raved that it “bleeds authenticity,” and Popdust hailed it as “bold, daring, and visceral.” The record landed Reed dates supporting the likes of Angel Olsen and Citizen Cope and earned her festival slots in across North America and Europe. Since then Reed has continued to evolve her straight from the heart and usually dreamy brand of indie pop over a steady stream of soulfully penned releases, including two full length albums, ‘Aquamadre’ and ‘Even When It’s Night’ via buzzy Mexico City based label Devil In The Woods, drawing a dedicated following and steady praise in the international indie-pop press.
Her fourth studio album, ‘Gli Amanti’ out November 21st via Pom Pom Records excerpts the diary of a year and a half spent desperately seeking intimacy within the modern climate of love. Reed recorded it over a month at Pom Pom Studio in Rome with producer Giampaolo Speziale (Malihini) alongside Luca Di Cataldo (Weird Bloom) and Edoardo Elia (Pua), a collective of rising star indie talent at the heart of a bubbling cool-kid’s weirdo pop scene in Rome.
The 10 song collection is endearing alt-pop at it’s finest, putting Victoria’s intimate yet universal lyrics and alluring voice at the forefront, amidst reimagined shades of 90’s and early 2000’s nostalgia ranging from Sheryl Crow and PJ Harvey to MGMT and Sleigh Bells. ‘Gli Amanti’ tells a candid series of digital age love stories in a way that’s at moments tongue-in-cheek, at moments profound and deeply relatable. The overarching effect is refreshingly infectious, a record ripe for processing lovesickness while playing on repeat.
“There’s this attitude of creative freedom at Pom Pom that leaves room for so many little miracles, the whole thing was very unrehearsed, but we were all coming from a similar set of left-of-center pop musical reference points, so the result was something really pure, with an honesty and playfulness that felt genuinely magical to tap into” Reed recounts. “The songs themselves are born out of a few versions of an actively breaking heart, yet it was hands down the most fun I’ve ever had making a record and I think it shows.”
