Video: In the Valley Below, ‘Bloodhands (Oh My Fever)’

Kevin Bronson on July 5th, 2017

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In the Valley Below — the husband-and-wife team going by the names Jeffrey Jacob and Angela Gail — have put Los Angeles in their rear-view mirror. Six years since they self-released their debut EP and three-plus since the single “Peaches” highlighted their debut album “Belt” on Capitol Records, the duo find themselves based in the Midwest, living and recording in a 93-year-old house in Grand Rapids, Mich. “After spending three years on the road, we wanted a place to come home to that was quiet, and not so claustrophobic,” Gail says of returning to her home turf. “We found Grand Rapids to be a city full of creative energy, fresh air and rough edges. It’s been inspiring.”

Their new EP “Elephant” arrives July 14 via Bright Antenna Records, led by the single “Bloodhands (Oh My Fever).” It’s an indie-rock spiritual inspired by the 2014 shooting (and aftermath) of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., and the continuing plague of racial strife in the U.S. “We were shaking blood hands / When we promised / we were brothers,” laments the song, which ends with a gospel choir led by Debra L. Perry. Directed by Gail and Chris Johnson, the video for the song illustrates what we already know: Getting along is a lot easier when we’re kids.

||| Watch: The video for “Bloodhands (Oh My Fever)”