Valley Strikes Indie-Pop Gold with 'Vending Machine'
Transactional relationships and fuzzy guitars are a match made in heaven.
by JV Ordoñez
Published on Jun 12, 2026
Probably our favorite Canadian indie pop outfit today, Valley, is back with one of their most revealing tracks conceptually with "Vending Machine."
The trio of Rob Laska, Alex Dimauro, and Kara James has always been second to none for us in making poignant and damn catchy tunes that really deserve to be heard. This new single comes about two years after their acclaimed album Water The Flowers, Pray for a Garden and one heck of a Manila show late last year.
"Vending Machine" is a revelatory piece of writing from Laska and crew as they dissect transactional and one-sided relationships built on pure convenience instead of growth. It doesn't hurt that they employ much fuzzier guitars and that infectious secret sauce they seem to always put in their tracks that make them distinctly a Valley track.
What really stands out in the production is how optimally the lead guitar complements the main melody and contributes to its overall earworm qualities.
Valley has always marked each album with a shift in how their sonic sensibilities materialize in each album and EP. This Room Is White (EP) favors an 80s sheen similar to their contemporaries such as The 1975, with Maybe (2019) being the dreamiest of the bunch thanks to the reverb-soaked singles; Lost in Translation (2023) being the most indie rock of the discography; and Water The Flowers, Pray for a Garden being a mixture of the dreampop elements, alt-rock influences, and the signature poignant songwriting.
"Vending Machine" follows the Water the Flowers, Pray for a Garden school of thought with the grittier production reminiscent of stuff from Mk.gee.
All we can say is that we're salivating for another Valley record, and it can't come any sooner.
Esquire PH's resident music scribe, wristwatch disciple, and essayist fluent in niche internet subcultures and Philippine politics.
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