After Only Living Boy last night, I debated listening to another album to review. Did I want to stay up until 3am, or head to bed and just do it in the morning? I chose music over sleep and wish I could’ve held my eyes open a little longer to jot down my thoughts on Valente’s Music For Rooftops. Now I’m sitting with local commercials playing in the background as I remember the trance I was in due to the captivating Coldplay-like trance Music For Rooftops put me in.
Let’s get one thing out there, I’m not a Coldplay fan at all. I like one of their songs every now and then, but would I ever buy an album? Nope. So I was surprised that right off the bat, I heard and compared Valente to Chris Martin when it came to the vocals, but liked it. “Still” and “It Don’t Matter” were the ones to get me on board, but it was the emotion laced ways of “Delicious” and “Human” that caused me to stay. Every song played like a somber tale, no matter what the story involved, the words were sung in such a manner that you felt Valente was this hurt soul.
But like Coldplay, sometimes things got to be too sad sounding and I had to just pass on them. Moments in Music For Rooftops that I said adios to quickly were “The Distant Lights” and “Curtain Call.” Now the next point isn’t a positive or a negative on the record, just something I wanted to point out. During both “Home” and “Wrecking Ball” there were these weird pit stops in the middle that just felt odd. Listen and let me know if you agree or disagree on that…
If I was a teacher and Valente turned in Music For Rooftops to me as a final project, I’d give it a B-. The vocals were spot on, the emotion was there, but those weird breaks in those couple of songs and the uber-downers were a checkmark on the wrong side for me. if you’re a fan of bands like (obviously) Coldplay and Keane, then make sure to take a minute or two to get to know Valente. Music For Rooftops is out now.
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