Valley

Valley are a Toronto-based alternative pop band whose songs balance an accessible narrative against artistic ambition, a tension the group has openly discussed. Rob Laska, Alex Dimauro and Karah James form the current core, and the band began in 2014 after members of two other groups were accidentally double-booked into the same slot at a local recording studio. Early name ideas included Thieves, The Engineers and Grouphug.

Car Test (2015) and This Room Is White (2016) came first, followed by Maybe Side A in 2018 and Maybe Side B in spring 2019, both feeding the full-length Maybe that September. In July 2020 they released "Nevermind", then "Hiccup" in September, and gathered both on the October EP Sucks to See You Doing Better. That year brought a Juno nomination for Breakthrough Group of the Year, and a Group of the Year nomination followed in 2022. Brandolino left in March 2024, and their first album as a trio, Water the Flowers, Pray for a Garden, was produced by Chase Lawrence of COIN and nominated for Alternative Album of the Year at the 2025 Junos.