Ilsey - From The Valley [CD]

With acclaimed producer BJ Burton at the helm [Bon Iver, Soccer Mommy, Low], and additional production and co-writing from Bon Iver's Justin Vernon, From The Valley touches on love, longing and heartbreak, exploring what it means to escape, and the inexorable feeling of needing to leave where you are to find yourself. Ilsey narrates each of the album's 10 tracks with deliberate care across breezy Laurel Canyon rock and sparse pop ballads, thanks to a tender, empathetic voice full of hard-fought wisdom. Ilsey shared "Heart of Gold (with Bon Iver)," a hazy, evocative cover of the classic Neil Young song produced, mixed, and engineered by acclaimed producer BJ Burton [Bon Iver, Soccer Mommy, Low]. The track arrived to critical acclaim from Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, The FADER, Stereogum, Spin and more, with Billboard raving, "... there's a fullness to Ilsey's rendition - and with the slightly faster pacing, the ongoing search for that illusive heart of gold sounds more urgent than before." The track marked the second collaboration between Ilsey and Bon Iver - the artist also contributed feature vocals to Big Red Machine's single "Mimi" in 2021 (the collaborative project of Justin Vernon + The National's Aaron Dessner).