Review Fix Exclusive: Galaa’s Aley Waterman Talks Origins, Goals and More

November 19, 2018 Patrick Hickey Jr. Music 0

Review Fix chats with Galaa’s Aley Waterman, who discusses the band’s origin, goals and creative process.

Review Fix: How did the band form?

Aley Waterman: The band initially formed in Newfoundland when I got a demo grant in 2013 to make the demo, but then we quickly wrote some more songs so that we could do a live show following the release of the 4-song demo.

Review Fix: How did you get involved in music?

Waterman: I’ve been playing piano and singing since I was a little kid, but this forthcoming album actually got me into exploring electronic music. 

Review Fix: What’s your creative process like?

Waterman: For this album, I would write the initial lyrics and melodies and then everyone would strip down what I wrote, we would all look at the core of the song for a long time and then carefully start adding layers, usually starting with synth pads and ending with bass.

Review Fix: What inspires you?

Waterman: Lots of female-lead and sort of experimental music like Julia Holter, US Girls, Hundred Waters, Braids, Tiny Hazard, and Wye Oak. Otherwise, I love reading about the philosophy of desire and the gap between the idealized and the real.

Review Fix: What makes this album special?

Waterman: This album was recorded in many parts of Newfoundland, from beautiful art collector dwellings that overlooked the ocean to my friend’s dad’s basement near the airport. All involved were pretty new to this sort of experimental creative project and so it took a lot of care and patience. Not a lot of electronic albums like this come out of Newfoundland so we were trying to do something new, I think. Also, there are a lot of strange sounds on the album from mysterious sources hehe.

Review Fix: What’s the standout track?

Waterman: Ender.

Review Fix: What’s on your musical bucket list?

Waterman: I would love to make another album that’s more experimental with a lot more real pianos in it, and more of a dark folk edge.

Review Fix: How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard you?

Waterman: Ambient electro dreampop with a haunting edge.

Review Fix: How are your live shows different from your studio work?

Waterman: A lot of the time I play solo with a keyboard and a guitar. We’ve figured out a live set up before but it is a little heavier and has a few less layers of sound.

Review Fix: What are your goals for the rest of 2018?

Waterman: We want to get out music out to the world.

Review Fix: What’s next?

Waterman: Music video!

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13872 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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