Sal Valentine Drops Funk-Infused Single 'Cherry Blossom' + Video

Auckland songsmith Sal Valentine has shared a soul-funk tune titled 'Cherry Blossom', with accompanying visuals directed by Dahnu Graham (Madly, Beach Pigs). The single features a thumping slap bass line, accented by harmonised horns and a slick vocal delivery and is lifted from Valentine's forthcoming album This Party Blows, while the clip sports a Singstar / K Road karaoke vibe with a score of familiar musical faces making appearances. The inimitable artist described the journey that he and the song went through to get to its current incarnation...

“I'm no stranger to tongue-in-cheek production details - kitsch orchestra hits, low-quality violin samples, 90s R&B stabs, Nile Rodgers-esque rhythm parts etc but it was very satisfying to apply them to a song with lyrical depth. It's strange to think it almost didn't make the cut. I rewrote the whole chorus in 2017, two years after I started it, and cut a whole minute out. I'd say this tune ate up nearly double the amount of time that any other track took to complete. The old version, by comparison, sucks balls.

You can catch Sal Valentine celebrating the release of 'Cherry Blossom' at Wellington's Meow on Saturday 12th May.