Behind The Tracks: Vallory Falls - As Above, So Below (Single) (2024)

I had seen the phrase "As Above, So Below" a few times and it caught my eye. The idea resonated with me; there was a sort of dichotomy between life and death, give and take, and harmony. To me, that brought out a very strong feeling of "carpe diem". That's what I wanted to get across in the song: loving like it's your last day, feeling no worries, taking advantage of what you have while you have it and not feeling afraid. If there is something like an afterlife or some other dimension, you should always strive to be the fullest version of yourself possible!

"As Above" is based on an actual date I went on with my partner to see Barbie at a drive-in! It was rad. I felt like that movie got a lot of hate unfairly just because it was a female director or a female lead, and having it in was my way of expressing my feeling that anybody can go like or see anything they want. It's silly some people felt they were above seeing it because maybe they don't like the feminist themes.

In a way Barbie making it in there was circumstantial because it's based on an actual date night I had, But, I do love music that references real places and media. I think the idea of including real-world, tangible things cements the song in time… it makes it sort of an audio time capsule. Like Blink-182 writing songs about M&M's and CRTVs, or Nirvana accidentally writing a song named after a brand of deodorant. It also makes it a little more relatable and personal than if you just said, "Let's go see a movie." It's challenging and fun finding ways to include things like that, but also not overdoing it… it's part of what makes songwriting so cool.

The graveyard lyric in the first verse is sort of based on reality and sort of plays off the spookiness of the song title… a lot of people say the phrase refers to life and death, so I thought I'd harp on that a little by including that imagery. But there is an actual graveyard in my hometown in Massachusetts that I went to a few times because it was next to my grandmother's place, and I remember my dad used to always joke and say that the "neighbors must be pretty quiet."

"As Above", especially, is full of alliteration, and I was super proud of it. Unlike a lot of my other stuff, that song was written within the last year, which was exciting because I felt like it was such a great new direction for my writing.

I did a harmonic in "As Above" during the second verse that's for sure inspired by Green Day, especially "American Idiot."

Since "As Above" is one of the only, if not the only, song we have without a lead guitar riff, Dan got pretty creative on the bassline… especially in the chorus!