In a way, it makes perfect sense that the Greenville duo Valentine Wolfe will play at the Sigal Music Museum Nov. 30.
After all, the museum looks back at decades of music history, displaying antique instruments and tracing the history of not just Greenville’s musical past, but the Southeast’s as a whole.
Valentine Wolfe, the duo of Sarah Black and Braxton Ballew, has spent the last 15 years or so crafting a sound by reaching back into the past and molding a pitch-black hybrid of Victorian and gothic lore and classical music with a liberal dose of hard-charging heavy metal. Black’s operatic soprano is the most striking part of their sound, and it’s a perfect match for the dark, foreboding music.
Much of the band’s approach fits the aesthetic of the Sigal Music Museum, and it certainly helps that Valentine Wolfe seems to thrive in nontraditional event spots. The due is particularly excited to play somewhere where there’s an educational aspect involved.
“I really like playing in alternative spaces,” Ballew said. “I think, frankly, there’s a lot of untapped potential to explore how we’re all experiencing music now. There’s so much technology out there to add educational experiences. Live performance is about connecting emotionally, and I think it’s cool to be creative about where you present the music because that gives you more opportunities to connect with people creatively.”
As for the performance itself, Valentine Wolfe has an ambitious plan in mind. At least part of their set will be new material from a soon-to-be-released holiday-themed EP called “Spectre in the Frost.” As you can probably tell by the title, it is not a collection of classic carols.
“We love dark Christmas ghost stories,” Black said. “We love the Victorian tradition of telling ghost stories at Christmas time. So even though we probably won’t be telling any spoken-word ghost stories, we definitely want the music to reflect that.”
“So much of our music is influenced by 19th century literature and Gothic horror and history,” Ballew said. “That’s going to be the plan: to bring that vibe to the Sigal Music Museum.”
Want to go?
Who: Valentine Wolfe
When: Thursday, Nov. 30
Where: Sigal Music Museum, Greenville
Tickets and info: sigalmusicmuseum.org