Baby Valentino, Dan Stock’s first track for Heavenly Recordings, already feels like a ‘classic debut ’ in waiting – ambitious, effortless and with a confident swagger, it’s some calling card for someone from Milton Keynes barely out of their teens.
Taken from his forthcoming debut EP, it perfectly encapsulates the reason Heavenly Records fell in love and recently signed this prodigiously talented young man. An honest, astute and emotionally charged songwriter, it’s blatantly obvious his aspirations and vision stretch far beyond the Buckinghamshire borders. This is a man set to go far.
Talking about the track Stock said:
Baby Valentino is a love story set in a city centre at night. It’s a result of countless nights out in Milton Keynes looked at through my romantic imagination. I love writing lyrics that are about mundane, everyday situations but have a bit of magic thrown in. I guess that comes from my obsession with writers like Jarvis Cocker, I’ve always loved his way of thinking that “Nobody needs to know where reality ends and wishful-thinking takes over.” Hearing him say that really changed the way I approached writing lyrics."
The track is accompanied by an appropriately stark, stripped back and beautifully shot video directed by acclaimed BAFTA winning director Kieran Evans (Kelly + Victor, the Manic Street Preachers documentary, Culture, Alienation, Boredom and Despair and Dexys: Nowhere Is Home).
Having only played a handful of local dates so far, he has recently announced a run of ‘festival’ dates in May, before which he makes an appearance at this year’s annual Heavenly Weekender in Hebden Bridge in February.
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