With the release of Graveyard Choir’s third album, The Space We Leave, lead vocalist and lap steel player Nate Valdez and drummer Eric Riley fully let go of their days as the raucous and unpredictable duo known as In the Whale. Contemplative, subdued (in comparison to the In the Whale days), and oddly forgiving, the album is rooted in rock traditions yet still finds something modern.
With the shakiness of transitioning from a two-piece to a full band behind them, Valdez and Eric Riley sound very much in the pocket with bassist Thom Whitney, guitarist Nicholas Waters, and vocalist Jennifer Riley (Eric’s wife). Taken as a whole, The Space We Leave lives up to its name, capturing a sense of space and depth despite being surprisingly full instrumentally.
Valdez commands the lead from his lap steel guitar as principal songwriter and vocalist, and you can trace a through line of depth and execution across his various projects. That execution is all over this album.
Graveyard Choir comes out of the gate swinging on The Space We Leave with the supercharged blues rock anthem “Judas Lips,” driven by Valdez’s lap steel and Jennifer Riley’s staggering vocals. That energy carries through the first half of the album on “Tightrope Walker” and “Devil’s Hand,” then finds something special with “Matchstick Men.” While The Space We Leave is strong on the whole, it draws heavily from the well of blues rock. “Matchstick Men” stands above that as a unique composition with an undeniable weight to it. Valdez’s shaky vocal performance is haunting over an inspired guitar riff.
The back half of The Space We Leave feels more experimental and has the band digging a little deeper into the rock of the 2000s, channeling artists like System of a Down and Johnny Cash in his later days.
While Graveyard Choir has departed the In the Whale days, the biggest carryover is the sheer professionalism and grind developed from years of touring across the country (In the Whale once played Omaha eight times in a single year). Instrumentally, the band is locked in, both on the album and in their live performances. Valdez continues to demonstrate nuance and subtlety in his songwriting, and Eric Riley is so good as a drummer that you don’t even notice.
Where the two used to do a lot of heavy lifting as a two-piece, here they let the band prop them up, and in return, they give some space. It shows. Waters on guitar and Whitney on bass fill out the sound, and vocalist Jennifer Riley soars across this record.
Listening to this record and its subdued nature, there is a feeling that there is a lot more rock and roll underneath. While In the Whale is well behind them, there is an inescapable feeling that intensity is going to explode out of this band in the coming years. The simmered-down, contemplative nature of The Space We Leave is fine as it is. Still, you can take the dog out of the junkyard, but you can’t take the junkyard out of the dog.
