Point Valid was a three-piece

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

band originating in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

. The group formed in October 2006, and went on hiatus in 2011. While active, the band collaborated with American science fiction and fantasy author

Catherine Asaro Catherine Ann Asaro (born November 6, 1955) is an American science fiction and fantasy author, singer and teacher. She is best known for her books about the Ruby Dynasty, called the Saga of the Skolian Empire. Biography Catherine Asaro was ...

History

Origins and formation

Adam Leve (drums) and David Michelsohn (bass) formed a band which they named Fashionably Late in 2006 and recruited Max Vidaver to play guitar. After Ani joined them for their first show, a battle of the bands in Baltimore, they decided to keep him as their vocalist and renamed the band Point Valid. Ani soon expanded his contributions to playing lead guitar and writing original material. The group performed at various venues in the Baltimore area, including the

Recher Theatre The Recher is a concert venue in Towson, Maryland. It is located at 512 York Road in the building previously operated as the Towson Theatre, a one-screen movie theater. The Towson Theatre was designed by architect John Ahlers of the George N ...

Towson Towson () is an unincorporated community and a census-designated place in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. The population was 55,197 as of the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Baltimore County and the second-most populous unincorp ...

and went on to record a demo EP which served as a stepping stone to their debut CD.

Début album

In the summer of 2007, the band self-produced a conceptual album titled ''Of Dreams and Memory'' at Invisible Sound Studios in downtown Baltimore. Just days before the band's first studio session, a friend of theirs was killed in a car crash. After attending her funeral, the band dedicated the nine-track album in her memory. The CD follows the story of a confused, love-struck boy who exists in a world of chaos and tries to find solace from "the storm clouds" of life. While on his journey, he learns about love, the nature of humanity and his own feelings. By the end of the CD, he has come to terms with his existence and realizes storms are a natural part of life and everything will all right so long as he has someone to hold on to. The story of the album is divided by three instrumental pieces (Ballad, Interlude and The End of Nothing) each representing a different chapter in the character's life. The CD's songs are in the alternative genre and range from hard rock to melodic ballads.

The Diamond Star Project

The Diamond Star Project is a

collaboration Collaboration (from Latin ''com-'' "with" + ''laborare'' "to labor", "to work") is the process of two or more people, entities or organizations working together to complete a task or achieve a goal. Collaboration is similar to cooperation. Most ...

between Point Valid and author

, whose works include the

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imagination, imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, Paral ...

Saga of the Skolian Empire The Saga of the Skolian Empire, informally called the Skolian Saga or Tales of the Ruby Dynasty, is a series of science fiction novels, novellas and novelettes by Catherine Asaro, revolving around characters from an interstellar empire known as t ...

series. The project resulted in Point Valid's second CD, ''Diamond Star'' (Starflight Music, April 2009), which is a "

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

" for Asaro's book ''Diamond Star'' (Baen Books, May 2009). The novel tells the story of Del-Kurj, a Ruby Dynasty prince who would rather be a rock singer than sit on the throne. The lyrics to the songs appear in the novel Diamond Star and were the inspiration for the CD."Point Valid Interview"

Fast Forward: Contemporary Science Fiction
', via Youtube (uploaded on May 18, 2009; interview date was April 6, 2009). Ani wrote most of the music for the CD, working with Point Valid, and Asaro wrote most of the lyrics, as well as music for three songs. Ani also contributed three original compositions, both music and lyrics. Most of the vocals are by Ani, with a few by Asaro. Although David Michelsohn was no longer an official member of the band, he continued as a guest artist for several cuts on the album. Dave Nachodsky, the recording engineer at Invisible Sound Studios and co-producer on the CD, played bass on many of the other cuts. The band also brought in a number of other guest artists to do instrumental solos or backup vocals. The CD has twelve songs: eleven originals and a cover of " Sound of Silence." It also includes a bonus track, which is an instrumental version of the twelfth song with no vocals, in keeping with the two versions of the song in the book. The cuts are melodic alternative rock with influences from

symphonic metal Symphonic metal is a cross-generic style designation for the symphonic subsets of heavy metal music subgenres. It is used to denote any metal band that makes use of symphonic or orchestral elements. The style features the heavy drums and guita ...

classic rock Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, prim ...

, and

Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the ''Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...

. Asaro, who did not know how to sing, took voice lessons in preparation for the recordings and continues to train. In 2009, the Diamond Star Project expanded to include jazz pianist Donald Wolcott, who accompanies Asaro in concerts. In 2011, pianist Greg Adams replaced Wolcott as Asaro's primary accompanist.

2011-present

The band Point Valid went on hiatus after the production of Diamond Star. In 2011, Hayim Ani embarked on a solo career in Israel with the video "Whisper of the Trees." His 2013 single "Before We Drown" featured Adam Leve from Point Valid. In 2014, together with Shira Laurence, Hayim Ani helped to create "The One Song Project" of Jerusalem-based musicians. The purpose of The One Song Project is to promote diversity of musical expression and independent art culture in the city of Jerusalem.

Discography

* EP (2006) * Of Dreams and Memory (2007) * Diamond Star (2009) * Whisper of the Trees (performing as eZra) (2011) * Subtle Notes (eZra) (2012) * Before We Drown (eZra, featuring Adam Leve) (2013) * If You Ask, (Ella and eZra, featuring Shayna) (2015)

References

{{Authority control Alternative rock groups from Maryland Musical groups established in 2006