sunset + mine
... bursts into the light as the new project of husband and wife duo Valerie and Rocco Repetski. Drawn together by music, the Washington DC-area couple craft a refreshing and upbeat perspective of love and relationship through a novel revelation of their own marriage journey. sunset + mine tracks are rife with compelling lyrics, bright synths, and a youthful enthusiasm that belies the decade they've spent performing as a married couple.
Valerie and Rocco have longed for years to release a pop project together, taking that leap with a series of recording sessions in Los Angeles to create the countercultural breath of fresh air that is sunset + mine. They can't wait to make you smile! :)
All My Hope
Heute "begrüßen" wir eine Band, deren Zusammensetzung doch ungewöhnlich scheint, der Name der Band sunset + mine, die Konstellation, "a new husband-and-wife electropop duo" aus Washington, DC. "All My Hope" heißt ihre neueste Veröffentlichung, welche mit Heute auf allen Plattformen verfügbar ist.
Ein tragischer, wie auch unerklärlicher Verlust und der Umgang damit. Wohin wendet man sich und wie findet man Trost? Dass die Inspiration zum Song. Das musikalische Konzept basiert auf Electro Pop und wird mit einem kräftigen Schuss Synth Pop unterstrichen. Die Vocals, welche eine leichte 80s Tendenz zeigen, harmonieren exzellent mit dem vorhandenen Hauch "Christian" der durch die Lyrics weht.
Das Arrangement, ist sehr ausgewogen und lässt bzw. gibt Valerie Platz zum Performen. "All My Hope" by sunset + mine, intim and powerful or where sadness turns into hope!
Q&A
sunset + mine are...?
Hi! We’re sunset + mine – a new husband-and-wife electropop duo from Washington, DC. Valerie is the voice of sunset + mine and Rocco plays keys/synths. We’ve been married for 10 years and music was one of the things that brought us together as a couple.
We had always dreamed about doing a pop project and this year gave us that opportunity! Our music is joyful, hopeful, and carefree. We want our songs to be ones you can play when you’re driving down the highway with your best friends or sitting at home with your special someone on a Sunday afternoon.
Who inspired you to make music in general?
Whoa… where do we begin? We’re both huge fans of pop, synth pop and modern worship music and have melded all of those into our songs as sunset + mine. The first people to pop into our heads would be LANY, Amanda Cook, Shallou, TAYA, Kygo, Sarah Reeves... we could go on!
Each of these artists bring a unique flavor to their music and have inspired us both lyrically and melodically. For example, Amanda Cook writes from a place of total vulnerability and passion –that’s something we strive for in our music. It allows the listener to lower their guard and enter the story being told.
What's the story behind "All My Hope", respectively what or who was your inspiration?
When we launched sunset + mine, we knew “All My Hope” would be central to the project. We wrote the song for dear friends who tragically lost their newborn baby girl and sang it at her memorial service. How you deal with an unexpected, unexplainable loss? Where do you turn and how do you find comfort?
“All My Hope” is an anthem for someone who’s struggling with fear and loneliness… you’re not alone and there’s always hope, no matter what. The song is our favorite that we’ve written together because of its intimacy and powerful message of hope amidst despair.
The response to the song has been overwhelming – we’ve heard the lyrics sung out from the lungs of a little girl battling cancer and have heard how they’ve carried a friend through a breakup. It’s so inspiring to hear how God has been using this song to bring encouragement to those in pain and our hope is that it will help provide healing and reassurance to anyone who hears it.
How is it to work as a "Husband & wife" duo, what's your creative process like?
Working as husband and wife through the creative process is such a blast! We each have our strengths, so for most songs Valerie focuses on lyrics while Rocco works up melodies and chords. That’s mostly how “All My Hope” was written, although since the original version of the song was written for the memorial service it’s a bit of a special case.
When we met with our producer, Ian Charlie, to show him this song, we played through the original 10-minute version with a ton of lyrics to get his ideas on how to slim it down. Ian gave great feedback and then Valerie sat down for a day with the lyrics, cut about 75% of them and completely reworked the song into what it is today.
What was originally a funeral song was turned into a 4-minute electropop song. We wanted to make it accessible to listeners of all backgrounds and beliefs, so everyone who hears it can come away encouraged and inspired!
Rocco, what's typical "Valerie"?
Valerie is kind, caring and competitive – such a fun combination! Typical Valerie is returning a wallet she’s found on the side of the road, then winning a trip to Florida by being the 107th caller on the radio!
Oh, did I mention she’s full of joy? I love how she’s the brightest light in a room full for friends and her focus is always on making sure others are having a good time and enjoying themselves.
...and of course, Valerie, what's typical "Rocco"?
Typical Rocco – oh that’s easy! Typical Rocco is fun-loving, goofy, spontaneous and always up for an adventure. He’s always in a good mood and always looks on the bright side of a situation. All of these qualities are what drew me to him when we first started dating and it’s a total joy and blessing to be his wife!
What are your most useful talents besides music?
One of Valerie’s most useful talents is her organizational skills. Nothing makes her happier than a perfectly clean room with everything in its place. Oh, and a schedule planned for the day.
Rocco has been known to make some pretty ridiculous spreadsheets, and uses them to plan travel, music, even where to go to dinner.
At this moment, what would be your "All Time Top 3 Songs"?
“Evergreen” by Amanda Cook,
“Corners” by Shallou and
“Oceans” by Hillsong United
What’s next for you?
sunset + mine is still super new so we have so much ahead of us! We’re looking forward to releasing the music video very soon for “All My Hope”, which was super fun to put together!
After that, we have two more songs that we’ll be releasing in the next few months. We’ll also be putting together our live set since we haven’t yet had a chance to play these songs out.
Oh, and we’re looking forward to getting back out to Los Angeles to record some more tracks with our incredible producer Ian. The best is yet to come!
