“My parents listened to lots of different artists and genres while I was growing up, so I already started to like all sorts of different music,” said Galvan. “But one album that I discovered when I first started playing guitar that really transformed what music meant to me was Peel Slowly and See by the Velvet Underground and Nico. That was the first album that I heard that sort of signaled to me that, wow, there's this wide world of music that I don't know about. So I went and tried to find everything that I could that was related to it.”
This search led Galvan to find the Stooges, Patti Smith, Richard Hell, the Modern Lovers and other similar musicians. Galvan said that, as an adult, she’s also come to love and take inspiration from Tom Waits. “Whether it’s his songwriting, poetry, just anything. I’m a huge fan.”
Galvan began lessons in guitar at around 10 but said she “became more interested when I stopped and just did things as I wanted to.”
Doing things as she wanted to led 12-year-old Galvan to begin attending open mics, which she said really “started changing things” for her.
“It became a thing that I did every day after school. Try and find the next open mic where I can share my music. Then I had my first gig at 13, and a lot of kind people began to encourage me and lend a hand,” she added.
Galvan said that as she has developed as a musician, her idea of songwriting has become much less “limited” and “tense.”
“But as years have passed, I've learned to just take it as it comes, and now the outcome is much more sincere and meaningful,” she said.
Throughout the past few years, Galvan has had the opportunity to play several venues in the U.S., as well as in Europe, in countries such as Croatia and France, where she now resides. But despite these opportunities, Galvan said that much of her progress came from the opportunities she found in the Springfield music scene.
“It really helped pave the way for me. I mean, a number of my opportunities actually came from people I knew in places I played here,” Galvan added.
Galvan said that The Cellar, Springfield Brewing Co.’s now-dissolved music hall, played a role in her journey, as well as for many local musicians in the area.
“I can’t thank musicians like Justin Larkin, Mkyl Perkins, David J. Hinson and especially Michael Evans enough. I remember the support I received from them when I started trying to branch out,” she said. “A huge thank you to, of course, the Springfield Blues Society of the Ozarks, as they really took me in and took care of me.”
Galvan said it was music that brought her and Perfetti together. She said she met Perfetti during the Pinetop Perkins Foundation Masterclasses in Clarksdale, Mississippi, and later toured with him, playing the IBC in Memphis and in France and Croatia with help from France Blues.
“He was an exchange student from France, and from the beginning there always seemed to be a connection, even if during that time we were only communicating through our instruments and Google Translate,” she said.
This newfound connection led Galvan to eventually move to southern France to live with Perfetti.
“It’s really a different world over here in all things, but music especially. I moved about two years ago when I was 18, so it’s definitely been an adjustment to sort of become an adult and then disappear across the world and build a part of my career here,” said Galvan. “It’s been more challenging in some ways, but it’s also been more rewarding in others. Overall, I think it’s really positively affected my songwriting and my routine of music.”
Since the move, Galvan has been writing all of her music, with Perfetti arranging it.
“I come from more of an old-school vintage background, and Matteo as well, but he has this modern touch that he brings to the music that totally transforms it into something new,” Galvan said. “Now it becomes our sound when we merge, and we're both reaching for the same dreams. So to have somebody that we can work and rely on without overlapping, it really suits me and I think it suits us both.”
In addition to working with Perfetti, Galvan’s musical style has also begun to evolve.
“Back home, I was playing solo and primarily folk and blues music, which of course I still love. This transitioned now into a full ensemble. And now there's funk and there's soul and there's pop, and there are a lot of alternative touches and different elements that were never in my music before,” she said.
Galvan and Perfetti’s most recent album, “Faces,” was released on March 27. “It has definitely been the biggest thing we've worked on so far. I couldn't be more proud of what we've accomplished with it, and I think it really showcases a side of myself that I haven't got to show before,” said Galvan.
Galvan and Perfetti recorded in a studio called Saint Germain in Paris alongside French producer Jean-Francois Bourget. “Working with him is really just a dream come true. His refined and unexpected touches are really what helped make ‘Faces’ what it is. The three of us brought something different to the album, and everything was just so natural. It just couldn't be any better, honestly.”
“For me, this album came from a place inside of me that reflects on all the change that has happened in the last two years of my life, how I've coped with this transition into living on my own and across the world from my family, how it's both magical but also isolating,” said Galvan.
“The others are ideas that reflect on the world we're living in right now. I suppose it's really just an overall look into my thoughts during this period of my life,” she added. The album “is a whole new thing nobody's heard from me before. I knew there would be a lot of my old audience that may not like or appreciate it, as it's not as roots as it once was, or maybe what they think, but the positive feedback has been so overwhelming that I'm not concerned.”
“Everything we've done is exactly what I've wanted to do. It's natural to evolve as we grow older,” she said. “And I've always dreamed of doing what I'm doing now, and I'll always experiment in all different genres and styles of music. The biggest thing I hope some of these long-term fans know is that I'll never lose my roots.”