TUNES // Valley Queen – Chasing The Muse

Post by Misha

For whatever reason, every eight months or so I find myself looking up the history of the word ‘muse’.

The noun derives from Greek and is linked in myth to the nine Muses, daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne – Calliope (epic poetry), Clio (history), Erato (love poetry, lyric art), Euterpe (music, especially flute), Melpomene (tragedy), Polymnia (hymns), Terpsichore (dance), Thalia (comedy), Urania (astronomy), – whom Greek artists called upon for inspiration when beginning a work. Thus, Homer’s Odyssey begins, “Sing to me of the man, Muse.”

It shares etymological lineage with music, museum, amuse, and mosaic.

But ‘Muse’ as a noun was predated by its use as a verb, to muse (from Old French muser, literally, “to stand with one’s nose in the air,” possibly like a dog whose lost the scent.)

Valley Queen‘s Chasing The Muse sounds as though it might have been written with this sense of the word in mind, possibly by the Muse herself in a moment where she feels a bit lost and found at the same time. Searching confidently for the ephemeral. Through five intense minutes Natalie Carol’s voice invokes a startling dynamism that improbably meets the raw vulnerability of Adrianne Lenker with the raw power of Erika Wennerstrom.

Chasing The Muse is the LA-based Americana folk band’s first single in a year and is the first taste of the band’s debut full length album, due this summer via Roll Call Records. They recently came off a tour with Liza Anne and will be hitting the road again in July. Dates here. Buy Valley Queen’s music here.