Born to a rock musician and a Playboy Bunny, Detroit bred songstress 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 in grade-school 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 worked as a clairvoyant’s assistant and added guitar to her repertoire. She began releasing a string of self produced lo-fi bedroom recordings a few months before the wake of a spiritual crisis lead her to drop out of school a semester shy of graduation to pursue music instead. And as fate would have it she just happened to receive a serendipitous invitation to move to Brooklyn to record her first studio album that exact same day.
She released her debut record, ‘Chariot,’ to universal praise. VICE called the album “near magical,” while Paste raved that it “bleeds authenticity”. The record landed Reed club dates and theatre tours supporting the likes of Angel Olsen, Mason Jennings and Citizen Cope, and earned her festival slots 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’, teaming up with avant-indie darling Autre Ne Veut and buzzy Mexico City based label Devil In The Woods, drawing a dedicated following and steady praise in the international indie-rock press
Her fourth studio album, ‘Gli Amanti’ out November 21st on Pom Pom Records excerpts “the personal diary of a year and a half spent desperately seeking intimacy within the modern climate of love, or the record that Tinder built”. The 10- song collection was recorded over a month at Pom Pom Studio with producer Giampaolo Speziale (formerly Malihini) alongside Edoardo Elia and Luca Di Cataldo (Weird Bloom), a rising star collective of cool-kid’s weirdo pop talent which NPR has picked as “fostering an indie rock scene in Rome” with their label and studio.
“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”, Reed recounts. “Which seems right I guess because ultimately, heartache both really is and really isn’t that serious.”
‘Gli Amanti’ is endearing alt-pop at its finest, putting Victoria’s intimate-meets-relatable lyrics and captivating voice at the forefront. Amidst reimagined shades of 90’s and early 2000’s nostalgia (think Sheryl Crow meets MGMT, PJ Harvey meets Sleigh Bells), Reed tells a candid series of digital age love stories in a way that’s somehow tongue-in-cheek and bravely sincere, with an emotional depth and pearl of wisdom uniquely her own. The result is undeniably satisfying, a refreshingly infectious vehicle for processing lovesickness past or present while playing on repeat.
“There’s this incredible Pom Pom atmosphere that leaves room for so many little miracles. And though we were all basically just meeting- I had only found Giampaolo [Speziale] on Roman Tinder just a couple months back- there was an immediate psychic trust between us. Many things were tracked in one take because one or all four of us got in some kind of mood that you knew you couldn’t recreate and simply didn’t need to. That approach allowed me to access a new level of honesty and playfulness in the studio that was so magical to tap into. When I wasn’t crying working it all out, my face legitimately hurt from smiling. ”
“As my sessions tend to be, it was non-stop group tarot therapy, with true intimacy found and heartbreak full-on healed in the process. I’m beginning to realize that’s the role music has always played in my life and I’m so fucking grateful for that.”
