Daniel Villarreal and Vivian McConnell finally drop an album as Valebol - Chicago Reader (2024)

Singer-songwriter Vivian McConnell developed a curious problem withValebol, the effervescent pop duo that she and percussionist Daniel Villarreal founded around seven years ago. Valebol has performed live sporadically since 2019, landing gigs in part on the strength of the members’ pedigrees: McConnell makes gentle indie rock as V.V. Lightbody, and Villarreal is not only one of the leaders of Latine fusion group Dos Santos but also performs and records under his own name. McConnell and Villarreal are seasoned pros, and with what seems like little effort they’ve figured out how to charm audiences by making arresting tunes together. So what’s the problem? When fans at their concerts asked how to find Valebol’s music, the best answer the band could give was about their next gig.

“We have played so many shows with no music out,” McConnell says. “It was kind of a dream. But it also was really intense at a certain point, ’cause I was like, ‘All right, we really need to put music out.’ Every time we played shows, people were like, ‘That was so great—where’s your music?’ And it’s like, ‘See you in two years.’ I felt really grateful for that experience—it was refreshing, to just be like, ‘Nope, we’re just a live band right now.’ I think it’s helped us establish ourselves.”

In April, though, Valebol finally put out their debut album, a self-titled release on Los Angeles label Otherly Love. On Friday, June7, the duo celebrate Valebol with a headlining set at Thalia Hall.

McConnell traces Valebol’s beginnings to 2017. She and Villarreal both lived in Bridgeport at the time, and he invited McConnell and some other musicians over to his house to hang out. “We had a jam in the basem*nt,” McConnell says. “I was playing his dad’s 70s Casio, and he was playing some beats. We were kind of like, ‘OK, whatever is happening right now is really cool, and we should try to explore it more. Let’s get together and start playing.’”

Both musicians wanted their new collaboration to be fun and flexible—they didn’t want to deprioritize their other musical endeavors or burn themselves out. “The idea of the band was, ‘When we can fit it in, and if it feels good when we can fit it in, we’re gonna fit it in—because it means a lot to us and our friendship,’” McConnell says. “It was supposed to be a low–pressure band to take off the pressure of all of our projects.” Valebol offered McConnell the chance to break away from the personal approach to songwriting she’d developed with V.V. Lightbody. While figu-ring out her collaboration with Villarreal, she also started writing for keyboard rather than guitar.

“I was able to just explore a new part of my music—like, my songwriting self,” McConnell says. “We would write together, and write lyrics together—some lyrics are in Spanish, and [we’d] check in on those. It was so free-flowing, our rehearsal style, and all the songs we wrote in a room together. I would have one riff or he would have one beat, but it was all super natural, and then we’d take a break and eat charcuterie. It was always some friends hanging out and making music. You can really hear that in the music that we made.”

^{Ocean Child released the EP Camouflage in 2023.}

More exciting news for zine enthusiasts! This Sunday, June 9, Zine Club Chicago celebrates the launch of a new South Side Zine Library at the Richard J. Daley Branch of the Chicago Public Library at 3400 S. Halsted (not at all by coincidence, also the home of the South Side Zine Library). In collaboration with the Blue Ribbon Glee Club, Zine Club Chicago hosts a day of zine making that includes live music, an installment of the reading series Three Songs, and an open mike. The free, all-ages event kicks off at 1PM and runs till 4PM. The Three Songs readings and Blue Ribbon Glee Club performances begin at 2PM; Nikki Roberts (Locals Only zine), Liz Olney (RadicleArts), and Cynthia E. Hanifin (Pulaski at Night zine) will each share a story about one of the songs in the glee club’s repertoire, which the group will then perform in its signature punk rock a cappella style. The open mike closes the party, and if you’ve got a music-related story to tell, it’s just right for you.

^{A recording of the Blue Ribbon Glee Club from 2009}