MusicNL award winner Valmy to tell stories from the in-between at Nowadays Festival

Several weeks ago at the Marigold Cultural Centre in Truro, I had the opportunity to see one of Newfoundland’s premier folk singers share her stories to a half-filled theatre.

On a stage decorated with moss and occupied by a lone amp and two guitars, the audience was graced with tales of wandering the coastline in search of answers; attempts to find solace in nature when the ceaseless stresses of life take up perpetual occupancy within the mind. This same storyteller, Valmy, will be performing at Morley’s Coffee in Dartmouth on Friday, Oct. 11.

As East Coasters, we’ve all heard singer-songwriters who therapeutically talk of nature. For many of us, unkempt wilderness is but a stone’s throw away, and whether it be through hiking, camping, cycling, or a simple walk in the woods, we look to nature as not only a source of recreation but also inspiration. A breeze trying ever-so-hard to grasp the leaves of a tree. Waves wash along a shoreline, shifting intermittently from calm to turbulent.

These images take up residence within us as we navigate the busy, harsh reality that can often feel entirely separate from the natural world, and while it has long been the goal of many a singer-songwriter to capture that particular essence, very few come as close to achieving it as Valmy.

A folk musician based out of St. John’s, Nfld., Valmy Assam has always had a passion for the arts. Growing up in Brampton, Ont., she would pen songs and infrequently perform, but it was when she moved to Wolfville, Nova Scotia in 2016 for university that she began to feel confident about her songwriting, and first conceived of the idea for her debut album which finally released last year, titled The In Between.

Valmy’s songs aren’t all about the wonders of the natural world—they’re plenty more personal than that. She sings of self-reflection, unexpected turns, lost love, all of which are as relatable as they are moving. And yet, she has imbued several of her songs with the imagery of nature—where she has found solace in her darkest moments.

“Nature has been and is a huge part of the way I process things that are happening in my life,” she tells The Coast in an interview. “I think that was really amplified once I moved to the East Coast and had better access to the ocean… It’s like a distraction that grounds you, but you’re not really avoiding the things. I’m thinking about the situation while also realizing that I’m such a small part of a really big and intense world.”

It’s this journey of constantly working out life’s complexities that make up the general theme of The In Between: Navigating a limbo that lies somewhere between the last moment and the next.

While being in that space can feel daunting and overwhelming, it also gives way to opportunities.

“Human experiences can be really difficult and also feel very beautiful,” says Valmy. “I think that I’ve had a long transition of feeling uncomfortable in that space, of not quite knowing where I’m going, what I’m supposed to be doing… There’s lots of cool opportunities and connections and people that can occur when you’re in that space that you couldn’t have imagined.”

The success of Valmy’s pursuit of these opportunities cannot be understated. It recently won her an award for Solo Artist of the Year from MusicNL, as well as several other nominations. It has helped catapult her cross-country tour, which stops in Dartmouth on Oct. 11 for a free show at Morley’s Coffee at 5pm as part of the Nowadays Festival.

“I was more in shock,” said Valmy of her win. “I feel like I’ve just been taking a long time to process that, but I definitely felt very thankful for the community support.”

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As she is set to complete her tour with the Dartmouth stop, she has once again found herself at a crossroads. The extensive travelling killed her car, forcing her to use a rental from Ontario to Quebec, and a U-Haul as she comes back through the Maritimes. She’s in the process of finding a way across the ferry, unsure of what her next step will be. But like her life so far, this in-between is ripe with opportunity.

“Every time I played, it felt like it was worth it to get myself here,” she says, “and it’s going to keep feeling worth it.”