Ever since Valley Taylor first caught our our attention with his debut album release in 2024, the American multi-instrumentalist and songwriter has proved to be an artist incapable of sitting still. He delivered another amazing intimate album last year, and is now returning with yet another record – this time titled One Hundred Billion Points of Light. For those unaware, Valley is an artist with an alternative indie sensibility and a knack for honest songwriting, with his new eight-track collection feeling like his most precious piece of work to date. Read on to find out why…

By Jane Howkins

One Hundred Billion Points Of Light is a contemplative, modern coming-of-age record that invites the listener to feel comfortable to remain a work in progress, highlighting the fact that change usually isn’t instant. Dog starts things off nicely with a gentle sense of restraint, building up the different instrumental layers in a lovely way to create vast textures of sound. It’s a short yet effective opener that establishes the cosy feel of the album from the off, before moving into new song My Fault. which picks the tempo up slowly from the previous tune. The song has something of a melancholic vibe to it, although the chord sequence stills stays rather warm throughout, providing a bittersweet feeling to the music. The layered guitars and soft vocal melodies serve to highlight the theme of self-reflection, using some infectious guitar notes to hook you straight back in again.

I Would Just Screw It Up sees Valley leaning heavily into his alt-rock and lo-fi indie influences, as the song simply sparkles with the warm, slightly nostalgic-seeming guitar melodies that run nicely through this piece. The lyricism is just as sincere as you might hope with a song with this title, making the casual moments of self-doubt we all feel seem strangely reassuring. Set Up To Fail is one of the most atmospheric songs on the entire album, showcasing Valley’s production skills off well. It starts out as a sparse, almost-ambient whisper of a song, slowly turning into a resonant crescendo of beauty. The Bon Iver influence is really prominent here, although it never takes over the music or seems too similar – definitely a good thing, in my humble opinion!

Don’t You Wanna Be Fine? is the longest song on One Hundred Billion Points Of Light, acting almost as the centrepiece of the record. It’s a real highlight of the album, featuring glitchy musical sounds, layered vocals and some cool synth pads that collide to create a hypnotic sonic space. There’s something very cathartic about the entire piece, before it turns into Do My Best – a two minute song that seems like a palette cleanser after the previous track. It’s a stripped-back interlude of sorts really, showcasing how talented Taylor is in capturing spontaneous musical moments on tape.

Spit is another highlight – it starts out slowly with some eerie vocal effects, before the driving drum beat kicks in, delivering an energetic punch to the side of the head. The bassline actually provides much of the melody here (alongside the little guitar motifs in the background), making for a really memorable hook overall. Sober wraps the album up on a quieter note, covering the listener with a series of atmospheric melodic shifts as Valley’s pretty vocals drift off into the music for good.

On One Hundred Billion Points Of Light, it’s immediately clear that Valley Taylor has crafted a record that feels less like a polished commercial statement and more like an immersive environment to live inside. Don’t get me wrong – the production quality is amazing and almost seems to become its own instrument here, but the way Taylor manages to make each song sound like its own living, breathing world is so impressive. There’s still a sense of genuine intimacy present across these eight tracks, marking Valley Taylor as a truly special songwriter to watch in the modern music scene.

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