Melbourne’s Paradise Valley feel like a force that’s been gathering shape for years. Made up of four friends – Harry, Lee, Matt and Brandon – who speak about their work with a quiet certainty: “Writing music is our destiny and is what drives us through each day.” Their sound sits somewhere between the dynamics of Kings of Leon and the emotional clarity of Sam Fender, but the band’s identity is shaped by something more unexpected.
Photo Credits: @minnie.momentss
When asked about influences, vocalist and lyricist Harry doesn’t reach for the usual indie‑rock canon. “As the vocalist, lyricist and aspiring stylist for the band, normally I’d lean toward referencing my favourite bands here, such as Inhaler or Kings of Leon. But recently, a band that’s inspired our creativity, our drive and our motivation to make noise in the musical world, is Coldplay.” And it’s not the stadium-scale or pop-sheen that inspires, but rather the emotional sincerity. “They’ve certainly had plenty of criticism throughout their decades‑long career, but they still write with their hearts in hand and their fans in mind. That’s something that propels us too and is at the core of our values as a band,” he explains.
“People are yearning for music that feels less distracting and more understanding of them.”
Australia’s music ecosystem is famously warm and famously difficult. “The Australian music scene is both incredibly big hearted, and dauntingly challenging. Being a country so tucked away from the rest of the world, ‘breaking through’ can be extremely tough and disheartening, at times,” the band tells us. A year ago, Paradise Valley weren’t sure they fit into Melbourne’s current sonic moment. But 2026 changed that. “We see that people are yearning for music that feels less distracting and more understanding of them. Our music is all about self‑awareness and introspection and I think our music can act as a catalyst to these emotions.”
What shaped them most wasn’t a venue or a trend; it was a handful of loyal fans. “These people are the reason we walk off stage feeling that burning desire to keep going, keep writing, keep performing.”
Their songs already explore growth, relationships, and self‑discovery, but there’s one emotional landscape they haven’t entered yet.
“Contentment.”
It’s a deceptively simple word, and perhaps the hardest one to write toward.
Photo Credits: @chloemmedia
“We’d best and pretentiously describe the song as ‘existential’, hah!”
Their latest single ‘Borderline’ is steeped in nostalgia, but its core is more internal than retrospective. “‘Borderline’ is about struggling with our own personal identities, enough that it may impact the relationships around us – including the one we have with ourselves. But it’s about taking a step back and figuring out what you need to do to get yourself from A to B, emotionally speaking.” Turning private emotion into public art comes with a cost. “Returning to that emotion time and time again on stage means you must confront an old version of yourself. That can be very hard,” Harry confesses.
Paradise Valley cite artists who reinvented themselves – Kings of Leon, Coldplay – and they see their own evolution unfolding with similar intentionality: “We’ve certainly strayed off the ‘surf rock’ track that often burgeon new bands in Australia and moved toward a style that’s much more emotionally explorative, through the melodies in our instruments as much as our lyrics on paper.” Their future sound will be anything but accidental.
“Energy is everything.”
“As a band, the amount we sweat is often directly linked to how energetic, driven we are on stage and how much fun we’re having!” they tell us when asked how they measure a good show. But the real indicator is the room. “Often, it’s based on how many eyes are on us. If people in the room are smiling and giving eye contact, you know they’re enjoying themselves and that is everything to the band on stage.”
Their heartbeat moment arrives during ‘New Again’, which was featured as one of our favourite single releases of 2025. “The final crescendo of the song feels incredibly uplifting to us on stage. Each of us feel very locked in together with each other and the crowd, and we know that the crowd feels that, too.”
The band’s next chapter is ambitious and beautifully earnest. “We’ve set new goals for ourselves: A national tour around Australia in 2027 and then taking on Europe in 2028. All the while, we won’t stop releasing music consistently.” And in the meantime, they’re chasing real and genuine connection. “We know our music is meaningful enough, sentimental enough and relatable enough to be great music in the ears of the world‑over; it’s just about reaching them.” A beautiful and sincere commitment to releasing music that continues to be honest and rooted in the human experience.
BORDERLINE OUT NOW.
Words by
Marie Müller, 2026.