First Impressions: Valley of Dark Hills by Hearts of Oak

Days fade into darkness, which in turn gives way to light. Dawn and dusk differ by day, of course, with both determined by Earth’s rotation and orbit around the star that centers our solar system. In the northern hemisphere, aka my neck of the woods, summer solstice falls in June; it’s when days are drenched in sunlight the longest. Winter solstice, on the other hand, arrives in December; it’s when the sun—and this depends on where one lives above the equator—seemingly hides for upwards of 16 hours.

Valley of Dark Oaks, the fifth album from Oregon-based band Hearts of Oak, rises and recedes in a similar cyclical nature. On the surface, it’s a sprawling 100-minute set that channels Crazy Horse, Jerry Jeff Walker and the Velvet Underground yet, much like the Earth’s path around the sun, its orbit remains a constant—33 1/3 revolutions per minute.

Recording commenced during weekly jams at the Deer Lodge studio in Portland, with Nate Wallace on acoustic guitar and lead vocals, Aron Christensen on bass, Jay Leaver on drums, Ezra Meredith on guitar, and Barry Walker Jr. on pedal steel. Interruptions came courtesy of COVID-19 and life itself. Walker stepped away after five songs, for instance, while Wallace dropped out. The rehearsals and recording continued, however, with Christensen, Leaver and Meredith soldiering on, though they, too, eventually moved on to other projects. Then a true tragedy occurred: the loss of Christensen, who was shot dead on a hiking trail in August 2022. (The investigation into the case looks to be, at best, an egregious instance of incompetence.) 

A while back, Wallace and Meredith listened to the music they made with their departed friend and liked what they heard. A lot. They recruited Meredith’s brother Joel, who plays with him in Supplemental Pills, to add slide guitar here and there, Ronjon Datta (of Yankee Gaucho) to play organ on a few tracks, and Sarah Gwen to sing on several tunes. The result is an expansive, elegiac and enthralling set; it’s the kind of album that seems much shorter than its runtime. It spans the stylistic gamut, from country-inflected tracks to jams sure to be the envy of Circles Around the Sun, with plenty of VU-approved menace tossed in.

Wallace is quoted in the press release as saying, “We often played long, three-hour sets out of town and this is a good representation of how those nights would go. Just as soon as we played something folks could dance to, we’d put that fire out with one of my ballads. Ezra would sing some Keith Whitley or Barry would do some Seger, and folks would dance again. Whereas past Hearts of Oak albums were a vehicle for my songwriting, this is a good representation of the live band.” 

The blending of influences and styles is fluid and fun here, with Wallace’s affecting originals set alongside Meredith’s countrified musings and a few choice covers, including Dead Moon’s “Spectacle” and late friend-of-the-band Mike “Reno” Lund’s “Dearly Departed.” As a whole, it pays tribute to Christensen in the best of ways: by sharing his talent with the world. The 12-minute “Infinite Horizon,” which features him on synths, is a spacey delight.