Having grown up on Long Island myself, it’s always nice whenever I learn of other musicians who’ve made the great escape from that wasteland and found creative refuge in the Hudson Valley–I can relate. I say “wasteland” because of the lack of venues and supportive community on the island. If you’re determined to go against the grain by creating and performing original music, and you haven’t already given up and just joined one of the countless cover bands, your options will be pretty limited and you’ll probably get conned into playing pay-to-play shows by sketchy promoters who’ll try to convince you that there’s no other way. Well, there is another way–it’s just in another place.
Indie-folk rock band The Belle Curves have been flourishing ever since they relocated to Troy back in 2024. The band is fronted by songwriter Delaney Hafener, and whether she plays solo or with different arrangements of her band, they’ve been busy gigging–I see their name on flyers for shows around the Hudson Valley and surrounding areas all the time. They just released their fourth album, Tides & Rain, on April 24th–their second record in under two years since they moved to the valley.
The album opens with a country-style slide guitar, and the band kicks in with a slow, steady, relaxed tempo. After a few instrumental bars establish the pleasant vibe, in come Hafener’s velvety vocals: “Everything I know is on the edge of nothing at all / And I can barely keep up with it, all these curtain calls.” The lyrics often circle around this theme of feeling like you have to keep pushing constantly, which can often be rewarding, but also overwhelming at times. For instance, these lyrics from the penultimate track “Your Backyard” come to mind: “But what’s a girl to do when the very thing that makes her sing / Is paralyzing, keeps her from the stage?”
Many of the songs are self-aware and somewhat meta in that they’re songs about songwriting. As Carrie Fisher once said, “Take your broken heart, make it into art.” Great sentiment, but easier said than done. The Belle Curves’ songs reveal to the listener the tip of the iceberg, but the presence of all the heartaches and struggles that went into the songs’ creation and evolution is palpable—they invite you in, under the surface, to sit a while and ruminate. My first thought when listening to the album was, “This is feel-good music for feeling good.” But it’s deeper than that. The music is upbeat but somber, pensive yet uplifting.
Despite the inevitable hurdles that life entails, the songs advocate for taking control of your own life in a way that works for you. In “I’ll Come Back Around,” Hafener sings, “Well, I’m takin’ a little time / To figure myself out / Yeah, I’m taking back my prime / To find what I’m about.” When life seems chaotic and you feel powerless to affect any change in your favor, songwriting is a powerful way to set your own tempo. In “Rainy Day Rider,” these lyrics stuck out to me: “I just escaped the snow / And now I’m here to take it slow.” Sometimes it’s necessary to let yourself take it easy–to pause and question why we’re always chasing and to what ends. It’s important to question expectations, whether they’re set by others or society or by ourselves–whether they’re real or just in our head. But at the end of the day, it’s best not to take things too seriously. In “Cut & Run,” Hafener muses, “I just wanna write one goddamn song about one thing / Not these manifestos, just some silly thing to sing.” Every once in a while we need that refresher to remind us why we fell in love with songwriting in the first place. It should be something we enjoy more than endure.
The final four songs on the record segue seamlessly into each other, creating a cohesive suite to end the album satisfyingly. In “Dust Can’t Kill Me,” Hafener repeats, “I just need the dust to settle.” Throughout the suite, a sentiment of nostalgia for the past is juxtaposed with the wisdom that you have to let go of the past in order to move forward.
This is an album you should listen to from start to finish in one sitting. It’s great road trip/driving music, laden with thoughtful lyrics and melodic earworms that’ll keep you coming back. I’m glad The Belle Curves have found their home and hit their stride in the Hudson Valley, an environment that clearly continues to nurture their creative output. I hope they keep cooking at their current rate, and I look forward to hearing what they put out next.
The Belle Curves’ social and streaming links:
Buy the album on Bandcamp:
See The Belle Curves live at an upcoming show:
- 5/16 – No Fun – Troy, NY (tickets)
- 5/30 – Atomic Tom’s – Binghamton, NY
- 5/31 – Origins Cafe – Cooperstown, NY
- 6/1 – Desperate Annie’s – Saratoga Springs, NY
- 6/19 – Origins Cafe – Cooperstown, NY
-Review written by James Kwapisz
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