In The Valley Below, Tommy & The High Pilots, and Connie Lim

Vocalist Angela Gail puts it frankly: In The Valley Below make “mostly music that we would want to listen to,” an honest and unapologetic statement from the Los Angeles duo, rounded out by vocalist/guitarist Jeffrey Jacob. In The Valley Below is hushed swirls of male and female vocals forged with dark stories of brooding riddles and romance.

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In the Valley Below: He’s from Memphis, equally steeped in Link Wray and Phil Collins. She’s a small town girl from a “mostly cold and cloudy town in Michigan”, who found her songwriting inspiration while living on a sailboat in the West Indies. Jeffrey Jacob and Angela Gail met in Los Angeles, playing guitar and bass, respectively, in a fuzz-box rock band, but the seeds of In the Valley Below were planted one night at SXSW, when they realized there was something special in the passion and chemistry they shared on-stage. Vocalist Angela Gail puts it frankly: In The Valley Below make “mostly music that we would want to listen to.” The duo’s debut recordings are equal parts atmospheric and gauzy, with sharp hooks and sing-along choruses, inspired by faithful archetypes and dealing with powerful subjects like sex, crime and religion, as on the first single, “Peaches,” a celebration of mutual attraction and sensuality that Jeffrey jokes could just be about fruit. The attraction between the two is palpable, but hard to define. For In the Valley Below, one plus one equals three, with Angela’s Americana folk-country and classic rock vibe melding with Jeffrey’s penchant for Anglo art-pop and heavy, Memphis-infused riffs into something completely different. The two wrote, produced, engineered and recorded their own songs in a home studio. Two of the 11 songs on their debut are mixed by the band, with the others handled by John Congleton [St.Vincent, David Byrne], Dave Sardy [Oasis, Band of Horses], Lasse Mårtén [Lykke Li, Peter, Bjorn & John], and Pete Min who also shared his studio for the recording of some vocals and drums. Angela and Jeffrey never even intended for In the Valley Below to be a performing band, so it turned out to be a pleasant surprise when the songs were so good they demanded to be played for people. A constant touring schedule, with appearances at festivals like Reading and Leeds in the UK, Rock en Seine in Paris, and a even a performance on the Late Show with David Letterman, In The Valley Below are paving their path. During days off, back home in Echo Park, CA, they make time to brew their own brand of beer, which may soon be available for purchase. And the rest, as they say…is mystery. Filled with emotions from guilt to hope, and encouraging voyeurism, when they announce to their audience, “We are In the Valley Below,” they immediately invite us to join their communal world, one with no boundaries and whose limits are only defined by our collective imagination.

Connie Lim: There’s a warmth and a charm to Connie Lim. You can almost tangibly feel her mind constantly moving from thought to thought. Sometimes she can even be a bit quiet until you get her nerd out on things like songwriting and puns. She laughs and jokes about herself, and rejoices in her ability to dress, sing, and act the way that makes her feel vibrant. Her just-do-it mentality keeps her constantly chasing the clock as she writes her own music, produces her own demos, and books her own tours where she hypnotizes crowds via looping, synthesizers, lyrics, but most of all, her voice. “From a bedroom whisper to a stadium belt” –buzzfeed.com, Connie’s vocals paint a wide range of colors in her meticulously written songs. Fans also know her for unabashedly cheesy humor, as she shamelessly tests out her jokes on stage. Lim has toured all over the States, and in the cities that she performs she is known for her wide and eclectic range in songwriting styles. Listeners who haven't seen her live yet may have heard her songs on ABC family's TV show Twisted or MTV's Real World. Lim also penned a song entitled "LA City" that got popular on youtube and led to a singles deal with a record label based out of Nashville.

Tommy & The High Pilots: Life remains busy for rock quartet Tommy and The High Pilots. The Santa Barbara based band released their most recent EP, The Sawhorse Sessions, April of 2011, which was the follow-up to their 2010 debut, American Riviera. And through it all, the band has remained on the road full-time, with major label rockers Ludo and others (Tommy and the High Pilots are on Ludo’s Redbird Records). The four-piece from Santa Barbara released an EP, American Riviera, in September of 2010 and have been on the road ever since. They supported other artists nationwide in the fall and finished the year by headlining more West Coast dates, including a sold out stop for their annual Christmas show in Santa Barbara. The Pilots wasted no time hitting the road again in 2011, playing clubs, colleges, and anywhere with a stage. When the band did take a break for a few days in February 2011, it wasn't to relax or go home. Tommy & The High Pilots went into the studio. The result was Sawhorse Sessions; five stripped-down, soulful acoustic songs that feel as live and intimate as a performance in your living room. Recorded in just two days in St. Louis, the band worked with producers Tim Convy and Jason McEntire on Sessions, their third release for Redbird Records & Touring. Tommy and the High Pilots are one of the hottest bands in the nation not on a major label, with a fresh, yet classic sound and songwriting that features two brothers who have been singing together all their lives-- and are a four-piece of gifted musicians who love to play together. The band played three performances at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas in March 2011, and the video for their debut single "Where to Start” (from American Riviera) received air time on mtvU, as well as a placement on the nationally syndicated The Nate Berkus Show. They are touring in early 2012 with Allen Stone, and had their video for “Lonely Place” debuted on American Songwriter.com For more information, including tour dates, please visit www.thehighpilots.com