Valet Naked Acid

Words: Dave Segal
Label: Kranky
XLR8R Rating: /10

We typically associate the blues with earthy African-American men from the South baring their souls and poeticizing their hardships. Rarely do we ponder what blues from a psychedelically inclined Portland woman would sound like. With Naked Acid, Valet (Jackie-O Motherfucker’s Honey Owens, assisted by vocalist Adrian Orange and Silentist drummer Mark Evan Burden) hints at those possibilities. And, damn, are they exotic and eerie. Owens conjures a chilling air of mystery from the opening “We Went There,” marked by autistic-trance vocals and Venusian-blues guitar eruptions. Elsewhere, allusions to Spacemen 3’s deliquescent downer rock, Fennesz’s disorienting guitar striations, and Kendra Smith’s loner lullabies keep Naked Acid on a glistening, dreamy plane. File under: beautiful escapism.