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Point Valid is a three-piece alternative band originating in Baltimore, Maryland. The group formed in October 2006.^[1]

Current members

• Hayim Ani (1990; Baltimore, Maryland), studies in the modern orthodox yeshiva Shvilei Hatorah in Jerusalem, Israel.
• Max Vidaver (1989), graduated from Shoshana S. Cardin Jewish Community High School in 2007 and now studies geography at Binghamton University in New York.
• Adam Leve (1991), is in his senior year of high school in Baltimore, Maryland.

^[2][3]

History

Origins and formation

Adam Leve (drums) and David Michelsohn (bass) formed the band Fashionably Late in 2006. They recruited Max Vidaver to play guitar and Ari Esterson to do vocals. The night before their debut performance they also rehearsed with Hayim Ani on vocals. After Ani joined them for their first show, 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 in Towson.^[4]

Début album

In 2007, the band cut a demo CD with four songs at Invisible Sound Studios. A few months later, during the summer, they self-produced a full length conceptual album titled Of Dreams and Memory. The nine-track album is dedicated to the memory of Toby Eagle, a twenty-year-old woman from Baltimore who lost her life in a car accident that year.^[5][6] The CD's songs are in alternative melodic genre, from hard powerful rock to slow, chilled out ballads.^[7]

The Diamond Star Project

The Diamond Star Project is a collaboration between Point Valid and author Catherine Asaro, whose works include the science fiction Saga of the Skolian Empire series. The project resulted in Point Valid's second CD, Diamond Star (Starflight Music, April 2009), which is a "soundtrack" 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.^{[8][9][10][11]}

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 Invisiable 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.^[12]

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.^[13] The cuts are melodic alternative rock with influences from symphonic metal, classic rock, and Bach.^[14] Asaro, who did not know how to sing, took voice lessions 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.^[3][15]

Discography

• EP (2006)
• Of Dreams and Memory (2007)
• Diamond Star (2009)

References

External links

• Point Valid's Home Page
• Diamond Star on MySpace - including a list of upcoming shows
• Starflight Music