With a sparse, almost basic sound that boils post-punk and noise pop down to their most energetic and scrappily melodic elements, the London-by-way-of-Argentina trio
Value Void arrived fully formed with their 2018 debut,
Sentimental.
The band's story began long before they started making music; vocalist/guitarist Paz Maddio and drummer Marta Zabala grew up as childhood friends in Argentina. When Zabala traveled to London on tour with her band Los Cripis, she decided to stay, and soon Maddio followed. They began playing with bassist Luke Tristam (whose Unwork label had released Los Cripis' 2014 album, Los Cripis Long Play) under the name WVS in 2017.
The trio worked on stripping their sound down to the basics, with Maddio adding scrappy post-punk melodies to Zabala's words. It wasn't long before they went into the studio to capture the results of their hard work. With Younghusband's Euan Hinshelwood at the console, the trio recorded seven songs over a couple days. They sent the demo around and London label Tough Love signed them up, releasing their first single, "Back in the Day," in May of 2018. After a tour with
Frankie Cosmos, the band went back into the studio with Hinshelwood to tinker with the tracks they had already laid down, and also added two more songs. Their nine-song debut album,
Sentimental, was issued in late 2018. ~ Tim Sendra