Value Void – Back In The Day

 Photo by Simon Marsham
Photo by Simon Marsham

Value Void – Back In The Day

London-based trio Value Void are announcing the release of the lovesick mid-tempo gem ‘Back in the Day,’ in anticipation of their debut LP, expected later in the year on Tough Love. The trio is comprised of Paz Maddio (guitar, vocal), Marta Zabala (drums), and Luke Tristram (bass); three friends with longstanding bar experience and active roles in the London DIY scene, having also played in Los Cripis, Major Malfunction and COP.

‘Back in the Day’ is a look-back to an ambiguous object of fascination. Tense verses, in which the riff itself sounds as though it’s itching a memory, give way to an understated yet instantly memorable chorus. As is characteristic of their sound, it’s a marvel of songwriting economy, meshing a clear pop sensibility with a DIY punk tone that brains you with its precision.

The narrator – conjured by Marta’s lyrics and conducted through Paz’s expressive vocal – puzzles then un-puzzles herself, as she turns over an old romantic counterpart in her mind, on the premise that they ‘are just this weird game,’ and concluding uncertainly that ‘without any rules I don’t want to play’.

Harnessing an outsized power in the way of the best punk rock three-pieces, Value Void nonetheless do so with a minimum of sonic prosthetics, recording live to tape with Euan Hinshelwood at TVT studios in Blackheath, relying on a stripped-down amplification of their ideas and esoteric technique.