Valtos, made up of Martyn MacDonald and Daniel Docherty, are an incredible fusion band, combining electronic music with Scottish traditional music which creates a brand-new genre.
The release of ‘Marx Terrace – Valtos Remix’ earlier this year was incredibly successful for the Isle of Skye duo. Discussing the release, the two explained how they’ve been influenced by the Peatbog Faeries — the original performers of ‘Marx Terrace’ — throughout their lives, making this the perfect song for the single.
“That particular song had the perfect fiddle line in it, it always lent itself to electronic music”, said Docherty on the track.
He explained further that the band is very picky in its creative process, having made five or six remixes of the song before choosing which one to release.
“We were trying to figure out what we sound like. Peatbog Faeries was our first song that really, for me, sounds like Valtos.”
The band’s fusion style of music has become very popular since they began releasing music in 2019, discussing the importance of trad music and what it means. Speaking of how they combine genres, they said:
“We’re trying to tread a fine line where those who come in from another perspective won’t instantly write it off before they’ve heard it, and on the other side of the coin, the trad world will still listen to it.”
Both band members come from an electronic music background, having worked as DJs and music producers, and used this experience to create music ready for any environment.
“Someone messaged me the other day and said, ‘I want to be at a ceilidh and in a club simultaneously right now”, said MacDonald. “So that ticks ‘job done’ on that one.”
Going forward, the upcoming album is an experimentation of everything Valtos is about. It’s expected to have something for everyone.
“It’s full of some really interesting things, we’ve got Gaelic pop songs, club songs, driving songs, poetry”, explained MacDonald. “It is kind of a story from start to finish.”
The album should be released in spring, and ‘Marx Terrace – Valtos Remix’ by Valtos is out now.
Featured image credit: Valtos Facebook page
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