Album Notes

After years spent winning folks over with the ethereal soundscapes of Ramona the Pest and the twang-inspired stylings of Loretta Lynch, Val Esway continues her explorations of love, liquor & loss with Pretend to Believe, the follow up to the critically acclaimed 2005 release Lovers, Losers, Liars.

Just like Lovers, Losers, Liars, Pretend to Believe is chock full of Val's spine-tingling vocals spinning torch tales, hillbilly lullabies, murder ballads and lowdown blues, for a sound she likes to call Ameri...kinda.

As with her previous efforts, a great many of these songs were born through Val's participation in the Immersion Composition Society, wherein each participant writes and records as many songs as possible on each selected day. Val credits ICS for transforming her creative life and her song writing forever, contributing to her continuing love affair/obsession with song.

These songs were plucked from over 250 written over a two and a half year period, and are made to shine thanks to a slew of very special guests otherwise known as El Mirage (Lucio Menegon, Joe Rut, Myles Boisen, Wil Hendricks, John Hanes, Berge Thomasian*).

Whether she's singing sweet sounding takes of murder and heartache or toe tapping ditties of revenge and regret, Val Esway will surely disarm you with her soulful siren sounds.

*...Collectively, the members of El Mirage have graced all sorts of recordings and stages, with folks like Tom Waits, Etta James, Fred Frith, Bonnie Rait, John Zorn, Nina Hagen, The Lofty Pillars, Eleni Mandell, The OverDub Club, and oh, so many more...