MV & EE: Barn Nova

Pysch – folk bands are always at a risk of becoming unorganized jam bands playing with obscure instruments and too many effects, but MV & EE manages to avoid this fate by coupling their woozy sound with sparkling guitar riffs and determined lyrics. Their new album Barn Nova is definitely their best. MV & EE is one of the many projects of Matt Valentine and Erika Elder and the album is somewhat of a romantic psychedelic trip between them. The guitar duel in the track “Summer Magic” will perk you up from the muted, dreamy mood of the first few tracks and shortly after the album reaches its pinnacle with “Wandering Nomad”. In the next track MV & EE become the wanderers in a hazy musical landscape in the eleven-minute long “Bedroom Eyes”. The album ends with “Fully Tanked” and “You Feel” as they slide back down into a gentler mood similar to that of the opening tracks.

My favorite track of the album is the nostalgic “Fully Tanked”. It stands more on the folk side of the psych – folk spectrum with a harmonica and plucky guitar line, but it’s backed by electric reverb droning that becomes stronger through out the track. There are many lyrical gems throughout the album but one of my favorites is in this track where Matt Valentine lackadaisically croaks “Can you turn your back on the ocean door/ and search with me for the tides/ and never break or change your ways/ we’ll hang out in the sky.”


I recommend listening to this album late at night in the midst of a sleep deprived delirium whilst trying to do homework or just in a laid back atmosphere where you can let yourself drown in the sound.

Summer Magic

Bedroom Eyes

Fully Tanked

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