{"id":45425,"date":"2026-04-17T08:11:38","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T12:11:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=45425"},"modified":"2026-04-17T08:13:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T12:13:20","slug":"on-stage-extra-valentina-sounds-celebrate-new-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=45425","title":{"rendered":"On Stage (Extra): Valentina Sounds celebrates new music"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Denny Dyroff<\/strong>, Entertainment Editor, The Times<\/em><\/div>\n
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Valentina Sounds<\/p><\/div>\n

Valentina Sounds has new music and that calls for a celebration.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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On April 17, Valentina Sounds will celebrate the release of her second album,\u00a0\u201cWhat Keeps Me Alive,\u201d with a show at The Crown at The Queen (500 North Market Street, Wilmington, Delaware, http:\/\/www.thequeenwilmington.com<\/a>).<\/div>\n
Valentina\u00a0Sounds is the stage name for Italian-born, Philadelphia-based\u00a0Valentina\u00a0Raffaelli.<\/div>\n
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Written between lockdown and recovery from severe burn injuries, the album captures the experience of navigating uncertainty while redefining personal identity.<\/div>\n
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The record transforms hardship into powerful pop\/rock anthems of resilience and hope.<\/div>\n

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Blending lush pop\/rock production reminiscent of Adele, Regina Spektor, Radiohead, and The National with her quirky sense of humor, Valentina brings light into the darkness, comedy into everyday stress, and offers catharsis through self-expression.<\/div>\n
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The 11-song LP is a deeply personal and emotionally expansive collection of songs written across five transformative years.<\/div>\n
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The record intentionally unfolds in two contrasting sonic worlds: lush, full-band pop\/rock arrangements produced by\u00a0Ron DiSilvestro, alongside intimate piano-and-voice recordings produced by\u00a0Matt Muir.<\/div>\n
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Together, they form a portrait of emotional duality, of strength and vulnerability existing side by side.<\/div>\n
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\u201cThe piano and voice tracks I did with Matt Muir came during a period around COVID,\u201d said Valentina, during a phone interview Tuesday\u00a0from her home in Philadelphia. \u201cThey were recorded at Retro City studio in Philadelphia.<\/div>\n
The stripped-down tracks – including \u201cSad Song,\u201d \u201cIrresistible,\u201d \u201c10 Years of Piano,\u201d and \u201cL\u2019ultimo conforto\u201d – were written during the Covid pandemic.<\/div>\n
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With only piano and voice available, these songs became raw documents of the inner struggle between finally being able to have \u201ctime\u201d and the inability to do anything with it.<\/div>\n
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\u201cMore or less, they were all written during the pandemic,\u201d said Valentina.<\/div>\n
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Recorded under strict pandemic conditions at\u00a0Retro City Studio\u00a0in Philadelphia and produced by\u00a0Matt Muir, the first set of sessions reflect the fragile reality of the time — masked recording environments, physical distance, and an overwhelming need to keep creating despite isolation.<\/div>\n
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Valentina had to deal with another challenge in June 2021.<\/div>\n
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When she\u00a0suffered severe burn injuries in an accident at home, resulting in a 20-day ICU stay, multiple surgeries, and long-term physical rehabilitation affecting her shoulder mobility and hand sensitivity.<\/div>\n
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\u201cWhen I was going through physical therapy, I was rehearsing with rehearsing with my trio — bassist\/vocalist\u00a0Molly Hebert-Wilson\u00a0and percussionist\/vocalist\u00a0Sara Mingle.<\/div>\n
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\u201cThe new album was recorded over a five-year period starting in January 2021. I did it when I could afford it.\u201d<\/div>\n
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Experimental moments emerge in tracks like “Washing Away”\u00a0and “Wake Me Up,” where shifting rhythms and dropped beats mirror emotional instability. Meanwhile, epic bridges in “Count Your Blessings,” “Monsters,” and “Story for Me” showcase\u00a0Valentina\u2019s\u00a0commanding vocal range, moving from whispered vulnerability to soaring, cathartic power captured by producer\u00a0Ron DiSilvestro.<\/div>\n
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\u201cI\u2019ll be premiering a new song at The Queen called \u2018We Can Do This Together,\u2019\u201d said Valentina. \u201cIt\u2019s a song about being together in the face of adversity.<\/div>\n
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\u201cI\u2019m excited about the new songs that are not about trauma. The single, \u2018Fun, Fun, Fun\u2019 is a transition.\u201d<\/div>\n
Valentina fares well with transitions.<\/div>\n
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\u201cI have been in the United States for many years,\u201d said Valentina. \u201cI fell in love with an American \u2013 a man from Philadelphia \u2014 when I was living in Italy. I was studying film and contemporary art at the Universita di Bologna.<\/div>\n
\u201cHe waited until I finished college and then encouraged me to apply to Philadelphia\u2019s University of the Arts. I came to Philadelphia and studied there. I learned about voice and music\u2014and I studied piano.<\/div>\n
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\u201cI started meeting musicians at University of the Arts. Then, I took a songwriting course, and I was hooked.\u201d<\/div>\n
Philadelphia became her home.<\/div>\n
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\u201cPutting a band together was easy. The first band was Sunshine Superman back in 2017. Then, I was in a band called Sparkle Pony with my ex-husband. It was a folk\/bluegrass\/Americana band that ended in January 2019.\u201d<\/div>\n
Valentina is a native of Forte dei Marni.\u00a0Her father Angelo Raffaelli was a professional soccer player in Italy for A.S. Livorno Calcio (currently in Serie C).<\/div>\n
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Forte dei Marmi is a seaside town in the northern part of Tuscany that is a major vacation destination for Italy\u2019s upper class. In Italian, \u201cForte dei Marmi\u201d means \u201cFort of the Marbles.\u201d The town takes its name from the fortress that rises in the middle of the main square.<\/div>\n
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\u201cI still go back to Forte dei Marmi a lot,\u201d said Valentina. \u201cBut my home now is Philadelphia.\u201d<\/div>\n
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The lineup for Philadelphia-based band Valentina Sounds features Kevin Bentley (electric guitar), Jim Stager (bass), Tom Cladek (drums), Ron DiSilvestro (drums), Sara Mingle (backup vocals), Molly Hebert-Wilson (backup vocals) and Valentina (piano, vocals, keyboard).<\/div>\n
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Based on her recent releases (\u201cWake Me Up\u201d \u201cFun\u201d \u201cCount Your Blessings\u201d), Valentina won the Homey Award for Best Female Solo Artist and is nominated again this year for her work on \u201cIDFLDA\u201d and \u201cMonsters.\u201d<\/div>\n
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\u201cWith the new album, I really wanted to tie everything together and release a complete project,\u201d said Valentina.<\/div>\n
\u201cThematically and lyrically, the songs fit together well. I really needed to put this out and close this chapter.\u201d<\/div>\n
Video link for Valentina Sounds \u2013 https:\/\/youtu.be\/4K71kGVNWjg<\/a>.<\/div>\n
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The show at The Queen on April 17, which has Cait9001 and Richard of Carver as openers, will start at 8 p.m.<\/div>\n
Tickets are $18.60.<\/div>\n
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Krooked Kings are on their way to becoming the most influential band from Salt Lake City since The Seeds, a psychedelic rock band founded by\u00a0Sky Saxon\u00a0in the 1960s.<\/div>\n
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Krooked Kings, who are headlining a show on April 18 at the Foundry at Fillmore Philadelphia (1100 Canal Street, Philadelphia, www.thefillmorephilly.com<\/a>), are a five-piece band from the Mormon city featuring Oliver \u201cOli\u201d Martin (lead vocals, guitar), Paul Colgan (guitar), David Macey (keys), Matt Monosson (bass) and Quinn Casper (drums).<\/div>\n
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\u201cWe\u2019ve been together for six years with the five of us in the current iteration,\u201d said Martin, during a phone interview Wednesday afternoon from a tour stop in Montreal, Quebec.<\/div>\n
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\u201cWe came together in college at the University of Utah. I was playing guitar with Paul. We put the band together and started playing house parties.\u201d<\/div>\n
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Martin and Colgan recruited Macey and Monosson, who never played bass until Marrtin persuaded him to take up the instrument. Casper, a highly regarded rummer, completed the lineup.<\/div>\n
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On March 27, the band released its fourth album \u2013 \u201cIn Another Life.\u201d<\/div>\n
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The title is a reflection of the band\u2019s progress through its young career.<\/div>\n
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The new album shows Krooked Kings\u2019 maturity and willingness to peel back the layers of emotion. The band\u2019s previous three albums \u00a0— \u201cThe Comedown\u201d (2021), \u201cAll Out of Good Days\u201d (2013) and \u201cShiver\u201d (2024) — were the work of a younger, less polished band \u2013 three albums that were made \u201cIn Another Life.\u201d<\/div>\n
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A major cause of the shift was the band\u2019s decision to work with producer Yves Rothman.<\/div>\n
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Rothman first worked with Krooked Kings during the recording of their 2024 album,\u00a0\u201cShiver<\/i>.\u201d<\/div>\n
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\u201cWe did some work with Yves on our last album,\u201d said Martin. \u201cWe did all the new album with him at Sunset Sound.\u201d<\/div>\n
Before recording officially began, Rothman set Krooked Kings up in his Los Angeles studio as he would for band practice. They practiced together for weeks prior to laying down any tracks.<\/div>\n
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On \u201cIn Another Life,\u201d Rothman got the band to deal directly with their vulnerability instead of skipping over it.<\/div>\n
\u201cWorking on the new album with Yves, he really pushed us in terms of lyrically and sonically,\u201d said Martin. \u201cHe saw us more as stadium rock than bedroom rock. That\u2019s were we found the sound.\u201d<\/div>\n
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The sound was one grounded in meaningful storytelling, emotional urgency, and a clear return to music made for human connection.<\/div>\n
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\u201cThe sound for this record is more a strong sound \u2013 like Coldplay or Radiohead \u2013 a sound that can work in clubs or in a stadium.<\/div>\n
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\u201cWhen we broke through to the other side, that was what felt most comfortable. Once we punched through that wall, we were super-stoked.<\/div>\n
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\u201cA lot of that wall was vulnerability. Yves said \u2013 what do you guys want to say\u2026.what do you believe in? Then, we broke down the walls.\u201d<\/div>\n
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Krooked Kings put in a lot of time and energy for the making of \u201cIn Another Life.\u201d<\/div>\n
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\u201cOur previous records all took us two or three weeks to make,\u201d said Martin. \u201cThis one was over a year-and-a-half.<\/div>\n
\u201cI think we all felt a page turn when we started working with Yves. We\u2019re really looking forward to our next record. We\u2019ve started writing songs already.\u201d<\/div>\n
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Video link for Kroooked Kings \u2013 https:\/\/youtu.be\/swZrJv5zNjE?list=PLjDWt4_jhc8vYjg00Fm195atMd7xeSH0u<\/a>.<\/div>\n
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The show at The Foundry on April 18 will start at 8 p.m.<\/div>\n
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Tickets are $29.50.<\/div>\n
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\u201cThe Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein\u201d is running now through April 19 at the Candlelight Theater (2208 Millers Road, Arden, Delaware, candlelighttheatredelaware.org<\/a>).<\/div>\n
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The show is a Mel Brooks Broadway musical based on the movie \u201cYoung Frankenstein,\u201d a 1974 comedy film written by Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder.<\/div>\n
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Described by Brooks as his best film, it is a parody of the horror film genre \u2014 especially the 1931 Universal Pictures adaptation of Mary Shelley\u2019s \u201cFrankenstein.\u201d<\/div>\n
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After the success of the movie, which has been named to the \u201cTop 50\u201d lists of comedy films by a number of organizations, Brooks teamed with Thomas Meehan to write and produce a stage version of the show.<\/div>\n
The show tells the story of Frederick Frankenstein, a New York doctor who is ashamed to be a Frankenstein and insists his name be pronounced \u201cFronkensteen.\u201d<\/div>\n
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His grandfather Dr. Victor von Frankenstein, a mad scientist, passed away so the younger Frankenstein has to travel to Transylvania to settle the estate.<\/div>\n
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In Transylvania, Dr. Frankenstein becomes involved with a variety of zany characters including the hunchback Igor, the yodeling lab assistant Inga, the mysterious Frau Bl\u00fccher and, of course, The Monster.<\/div>\n
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The Candlelight Theater is presenting \u201cThe Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein\u201d now through April 19. Tickets, which include a tasty dinner, are $77.50 for adults and $35 for children (ages 4-12).<\/div>\n
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Kennett Flash (102 Sycamore Alley, Kennett Square, 484-732-8295, http:\/\/www.kennettflash.org<\/a>) is hosting The Attic Dwellers on April 17 and Gr\u00e1inne Hunt with Jules Stewart on April 18.<\/div>\n
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Uptown! Knauer Performing Arts Center (226 North High Street, West Chester, www.uptownwestchester.org<\/i><\/a>) is presenting \u201cThe Last Five Years\u201d now through April 19.<\/div>\n
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Jamey\u2019s House of Music (32 South Lansdowne Avenue, Lansdowne, 215-477-9985, www.jameyshouseofmusic.com<\/i><\/a>) is hosting The Barrons and The 1910 Chainsaw Company on April 17, BLUESTIME!\u00a0On April 18 and the Blues Muthas with Steve Shanahan on April 19.<\/div>\n
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Elkton Music Hall (107 North Street, Elkton, Maryland, www.elktonmusichall.com<\/a>) has The Nashville Nights Band on April 17, TRO Plays Lynyrd Skynyrd on April 18 and Rhett Miller on April 22.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Denny Dyroff, Entertainment Editor, The Times Valentina Sounds has new music and that calls for a celebration. On April 17, Valentina Sounds will celebrate the release of her second album,\u00a0\u201cWhat Keeps Me Alive,\u201d with a show at The Crown at The Queen (500 North Market Street, Wilmington, Delaware, http:\/\/www.thequeenwilmington.com). Valentina\u00a0Sounds is the stage name […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45424,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[6518,12944],"class_list":["post-45425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","tag-featured","tag-valentina-sounds"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45425"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45425\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45428,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45425\/revisions\/45428"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/45424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}