Written, arranged, and performed by K. Valdoria Peterson. Recorded and engineered by André Pacheco in Menlo Park, CA. Cover art illustrated by K. Valdoria Peterson.

Buy on Bandcamp!

Pearl Sky

"Valdoria & Friends Live at Mama Kin"

"Some Kind of Love Song" performed by Valdoria (vocals, guitar), Mickey Radotich (guitar), Sam Feinstein (upright bass)

"Pearl Sky" performed by Valdoria (vocals, guitar), Mickey Radotich (guitar), Sam Feinstein (upright bass)

"Lunatics" performed by Valdoria (vocals, guitar), Mickey Radotich (guitar), Sam Feinstein (upright bass)

"Can't Help But Think of You" performed by Valdoria (vocals, guitar), Mickey Radotich (guitar), Sam Feinstein (upright bass)

"Peaches and Plums" performed by Valdoria (vocals, guitar)

"Any Time, Any Day" performed by Valdoria (vocals, guitar), Stevie Queiroz (bass)

"Saturnine Saturday" performed by Valdoria (vocals, guitar), Stevie Queiroz (bass), Q (drums)

"Hunger" performed by Valdoria (vocals, guitar), Stevie Queiroz (bass), Q (drums)

"Prayer to St. Dymphna (Bullshit)" performed by Valdoria (vocals, guitar), Stevie Queiroz (bass)

"What You Do To My Heart" performed by Valdoria (vocals, guitar), Mickey Radotich (guitar), Sam Feinstein (upright bass), Q (drums)

Recorded live at Mama Kin in San Jose, California on November 21, 2023. Live sound by Hans Fugal. Photo by Ben Peterson. Cover art by Valdoria.

Live at Mama Kin

"Snaggletooth"
Written and Performed by Valdoria

She's never been heard, all her anxieties
Sealing her teeth behind a serious line
Pretend everything's fine

Never a word dares to escape her lips
What could she say that is worth being said?
Could turn a head her way?
She isn't pretty, but
Maybe one day she could sharpen her wit enough
For what, for what, for what?

All the unnamed longings of a misspent youth
Pinned fast to insecurity by a snaggletooth

All of her fears make her feel breakable
She yearns for the strength to be unshakeable
How can she bloom into the person she should become
If her intricate insides keep getting all tangled up
On what, on what, on what?

All the unnamed longings of a misspent youth
Pinned fast to insecurity by a snaggletooth

And invisibility is not the shield she'd hoped it'd be
Keeping in the pain and keeping out what's good

All the unnamed longings of a misspent youth
Pinned fast to insecurity by a snaggletooth

23.05.28 "Snaggletooth"

"Mad Dash"
Written and Performed by Valdoria

The sun rises here, early; my body's fighting sleep
Another lonely morning to pass to time's slow creep
Will you meet me in the garden, so full of sun-kissed flowers:
All sublime detonations set off by higher powers

Last night, when the moon was high, I thought you kissed me quite insane
Or maybe I was only dreaming
'Cause every little thought of you only messes with my brain
I have to stop believing that there are secret meanings
In the way that you behave

I make a mad dash through the perfumed gates
The honeysuckle vine rippling like lace in my wake
Am I awake? Am I awake?

Well, maybe I've been dreaming; in dreams, you kiss so sweet
That I can't taste your poison and reality retreats
If you meet me in the garden, so full of sun-kissed flowers
Can divine intervention ever save me from your powers?

Last night, when the moon was high, I thought you kissed me quite insane
Or maybe you were only scheming
'Cause every memory of you is anything but plain
I have to stop believing that there are secret meanings
In the way that you behave

I make a mad dash through my diary page
I'm scribbling out the lines where I worshipped all your ways
Will I love you always? Why do I love you this way?

You're madly dashing
Maddening to me
Love me madly, love me madly
Just to dash away my dreams

You make a mad dash, oh you run away
You're feeding me your lines but you never stay, never stay
But I love you anyway, oh I love you anyway
Why do I love you this way?

23.06.04 "Mad Dash"

"Anytime, Anyday"
Written and Performed by Valdoria

Why do you get so caught up in all of the minutiae
Billionaires burning dollars, why do you let them use ya?
Moved to a golden city hoping the sky'd be pretty
Anytime, anyday

Hon, you could stroke my ego and I won't care where we go
I never asked to be here, I could just disappear
And the world would be more or less the same
Anytime, anyday

Anytime, anyday, anytime, anyday
Everybody's got their bills to pay anytime, anyday
So go and get your bread, don't let it mess with your head if you stay

Oh, baby, don't get caught up in all of the minutiae
You'd have a better time if you'd only let me use ya
Just let my rhythm move you, and if you like the view, too...
Come on, let's play

Anytime, anyday, anytime anyday
Always a chance of hell to pay, anytime, anyday
Even Joan of Arc boiled down to a mark on a page

Oh, let me stroke your ego, detonate that torpedo
I can't solve all your problems, but we could start with this one
Just let my rhythm move you, sweet honey, let me soothe you
Come on, let's play
Come on, let's play
Anytime, anyday
I can't solve all your problems, but I'm on top of this one
Anytime, anyday

Anytime, anyday, anytime anyday
Always a chance of hell to pay anytime, anyday
Even Joan of Arc boiled down to a mark
Whether an act of God, or fate, or a lark
We could light up the world if we start with a spark
Anytime, anytime, anyday

23.06.11 "Anytime, Anyday"

"Really Remote"
Written and Performed by Valdoria

Am I the angel on your shoulder?
You could be the devil on mine
I have these thoughts as I grow older
I don't want to be unkind

You know a heart can be mistaken
Playing your thoughts on rewind
You don't know whose advice you're taking
When you rifle through my mind

I could put all the distance between us for miles
Get into new distractions for a little while
I still wear all your colors like it's going out of style
How really remote can I be
When I wonder if you're thinking of me?

We don't go in for bad behavior
So we don't talk for a while
I'm not your sister, not your savior
Not some girl you would beguile

You know my heart for you is tender
I let you squeeze for a spell
You ask permission to surrender
I think, oh, what the hell?

I could put all the distance between us for miles
Get into new distractions for a little while
I still wear all your colors like it's going out of style
How really remote can I be
When I wonder if you're thinking of me?

I can't be remote
When I know that you're thinking of me

Am I the angel on your shoulder?
'Cause you're the devil on mine

Laurelthirst Open Mic Prompts

23.06.25 "Really Remote"

"Revolving Door"
Written and Performed by Valdoria

The autumn leaves are choking in the grate
The color a reminder of the love we could have made
All fiery gold and crimson turning brown too soon
And muddy like the memory of him and me beneath the cheshire moon

And the moon only laughs when at last he disappears
And I fear the ache inside of me for him will last for years

Oh, winter cold, envelop me and dull my heartbreak’s roar
Seasons change, sweeping through the year’s revolving door
Seasons change, sweeping through the year’s revolving door

But spring comes crackling green right through the cold
You’ve come to free me from last winter’s hold
Oh, vernal bloom brings new love to the fore
Seasons change, sweeping through the year’s revolving door
Seasons change, sweeping through the year’s revolving door

Yet summertime reminds me of heartache
His warm embrace still haunting my dreams
You touch me in that sacred place from which desire wakes
When you’re unfolding me,
When you’re unfolding me

It’s not a matter of if you will leave
It’s a matter of when
It won’t matter to brace for the grief
You can’t know the pain ‘cause the pain always changes
But emptiness has a monotonous sameness
All of love’s pain has its own unique strangeness
But emptiness has a monotonous sameness


Love, bloom, blow, bury, renew

23.07.02 "Revolving Door"

"Kaleidoscope Girl"
Written and Performed by Valdoria

My therapist told me
It’s better to regret the things that I do
Than the things that I don’t
But she hasn’t sold me
What hasn’t happened yet isn’t worth all the guilt
That rattles in my head
The palace of my mind illuminates divinely
A radiant design where we are intertwined
Serpentinely
And if we never touch in the waking world
How do you knock my heart to pieces?
I turn into a kaleidoscope girl
Shine a light through
And the patterns are ceaseless
We can make a jewel-toned fantasy
With your glow reflecting off of me
If inside my thoughts I can be free
What is this heaviness?

My therapist told me
The grown-up thing to do
Is to recognize, sometimes, when someone you love
Isn’t right for you
But she hasn’t sold me
That the sacrifice
Is necessarily worth the price
The palace of my mind can sometimes be confining
It’s hard to read the signs and things are misaligned
While I’m darkly designing
And if we ever touch in the waking world
Why cut yourself on all my pieces
Who could ever love a kaleidoscope girl?
I’m all sharp edges and the bleeding is ceaseless
You shine your light
On my sticky circumstances
And history of doomed romances
You shine your light
Through my decadent debris
We make a jewel-toned fantasy
Oh how does it happen?
You make a kaleidoscope girl out of me

23.07.16 "It Happens" (Kaleidoscope Girl)

"Casually Undone"
Written and Performed by Valdoria

Night sings with the cold
Our faces flushed by cafe glow
The corner of your mouth cradling a joke
Our laughter's bells peal in the air
I'm startled by the sudden flare
Of desire you awoke

You can have my heart
The time we spent was fun
I won't be going home with you, tonight
Even though my heart's been won
Loving recklessly is for the young
I don't know I can overcome my life
Being casually undone
The way you make kingdom come

I'm no starry-eyed maiden
But her ghost speaks in my ear
That your looks are meaning-laden
It's exactly what I fear
When our time goes up in smoke
Our laughter's bells peal in the air
I'm startled by the sudden flare
Of desire you awoke

You can have my heart
The time we spent was fun
I won't be going home with you, tonight
Even though my heart's been won
Loving recklessly is for the young
I don't know I can overcome my life
Being casually undone
The way you make kingdom come

Do I have your heart, all tenderness unsung?
'Cause if I'm going home with you, tonight
I know I'll come undone
Loving recklessly is for the young
I don't know that my heart still has the fight
I only want to be with you, tonight
Love me until kingdom come
Love me until kingdom come

Casually Undone

"Lunatics"
Written and Performed by Valdoria

Tell me another story about your life
Every tiny joy and every cumbersome strife
Oh the moon is laughing down from above:
An immortal shaking her head at love
Why don't you tell me another story about your life?

One time, your old car caught fire
One time, you caught a face full of barbed wire
It's a miracle that you're even here
Holding steady even though it's unclear
How you're alright, tonight

Oh, I'm a fool skimming the wake of your gravitational pull
I'm another mistake of yours

This time, it was my heart that caught fire
How long 'til the flames expire?
Oh, I swore I'd never do this again
Playing games no one could possibly win
I should stop throwing myself in your path
I foresee only the worst aftermath

And I'm a fool skimming the wake of your gravitational pull
I'm another mistake of yours

Oh, the moon is laughing down from above
An immortal shaking her head at love
Passive witness to a millennia
Of an endless tide of tribulation

When you hurt, how I want to love you
You shine, how I'm blinded by you
My words, do they ever touch you?
My heart, could it ever bind you?
You hurt, how I want to love you
You shine, how I'm blinded by you
My words, do they ever touch you
Like you're touching me, touching me?

If my heart never binds you, it's alright
Alright
Just tell me a story
'Cause all my stories are boring

Lunatics

"Pearl Sky"
Written And Performed by Valdoria

The pearl sky smothers the world
Muting the ocean's savage churn
Way up high cry the sea birds
Smoke dissipates from my desire's burn
Do you notice? You're distracted
You delight in passing phantoms
Watch their progress through the canvas
Of horizon: white and endless

You beckon me into a monochrome dream...

My heart welters curiously
In anticipation of something
Novel and ancient, eternal and divine
I'm fixed on your fine features
Drawn against the pearl sky...

I step barefoot on the rippling mirror
Sucking sand into the depths of the sea
Do you hold this moment dear, or
Am I just imagining things?
Imagining things

When you long for lace,
Is it the soporific tidal froth that swells this place
Or in your memory, another silken filigree you trace?

Pearl sky, lace tide
Pearl sky, rippling mirror, lace tide
Pearl sky, lace tide
Your smile cuts my heart open wide, open wide
Open sky
Tide rolling wild
Arms folding, you holding onto me tight
I'm hoping you're hoping we stay the night
Pearl sky, lace tide
The sea birds cry
Pearl sky, lace tide
Your smile rips my heart open wide
We stain the endless canvas of the pearl sky

"Hungry Ghost"
Written and Performed by Valdoria

That January night, I had a taste of you
You were bittersweet with alcohol
And when you gazed at me with your bright glassy eyes
I was pretty sure that I would fall

Oh come away from my thoughts
Oh come away from my thoughts
Your deep embrace ties me to knots
And I'm lost

But in the harsh daylight, I thought I'd be clear-eyed
I could see your face and I'd be done
But your voice is medicine, it makes me dream again
Poppy fields of sleep that you have sown

I lie awake when you're gone
Oh how I ache when you're gone
And even though I know it's wrong
Wish we belonged

You lie awake to familiar calls
I'm a hungry ghost haunting your walls
You're tied up in your ache: a knot I wish I could unmake
But I'm immaterial

Oh, come away from your thoughts
Oh, come away from your thoughts
I'd hate for you to be so lost
Or trapped, like me:
A hungry ghost

Hungry Ghost

"Vulgar Sugar"
Written and Performed by Valdoria

What is this, when you bring me your tears?
I'm last on your list... you are first of my fears
My heart rolls out like a shell swept in your wave
The salt of your suffering is almost all I taste
I long to taste your vulgar sugar
Your vulgar sugar
I long to taste your vulgar sugar

The way you press your thumb into my palm
I can't discern if it's anguish or a balm
You soothe my aches but I'm still in distress
The pain you leave in me is something else, I guess
Your sweetness cuts
It's vulgar, sugar
It's vulgar, sugar
Your sweetness cuts
It's vulgar, sugar

My heart is quick to feel
My wounds are slow to heal
You pull me toward your face
You starve me for a taste

Oh savor me with vulgar sugar
Savor me with vulgar sugar
Savor me
Savor me with vulgar sugar
Savor me with vulgar sugar

Vulgar Sugar

Valdoria & Friends Live at Mama Kin

"Some Kind of Love Song" performed by Valdoria (vocals, guitar), Mickey Radotich (guitar), Sam Feinstein (upright bass)

"Pearl Sky" performed by Valdoria (vocals, guitar), Mickey Radotich (guitar), Sam Feinstein (upright bass)

"Lunatics" performed by Valdoria (vocals, guitar), Mickey Radotich (guitar), Sam Feinstein (upright bass)

"Can't Help But Think of You" performed by Valdoria (vocals, guitar), Mickey Radotich (guitar), Sam Feinstein (upright bass)

"Peaches and Plums" performed by Valdoria (vocals, guitar)

"Any Time, Any Day" performed by Valdoria (vocals, guitar), Stevie Queiroz (bass)

"Saturnine Saturday" performed by Valdoria (vocals, guitar), Stevie Queiroz (bass), Q (drums)

"Hunger" performed by Valdoria (vocals, guitar), Stevie Queiroz (bass), Q (drums)

"Bullshit" performed by Valdoria (vocals, guitar), Stevie Queiroz (bass)

"What You Do To My Heart" performed by Valdoria (vocals, guitar), Mickey Radotich (guitar), Sam Feinstein (upright bass), Q (drums)

Recorded live at Mama Kin in San Jose, California on November 21, 2023. Live sound by Hans Fugal. Photo by Ben Peterson. Cover art by Valdoria.

Peaches And Plums

Can't Help But Think Of You

Some Kind Of Love Song

Written by K. Valdoria Peterson. Recorded and engineered by Don Budd at Tone Freq Studios in San Jose, CA and K. Valdoria Peterson in Vancouver, WA.

Musicians:
Valdoria: vocals, guitar
Mickey Radotich: lead guitar
Sam Feinstein: bass
Sam Foreman: drums

Knife Cut Kite

Written by K. Valdoria Peterson. Arranged by K. Valdoria Peterson and Jordan Plotner.

Performed by:
Valdoria: main vocal, acoustic bass
Lindsey Plotner: background vocals
Jordan Plotner: violin, double bass

Recorded and engineered by Jordan Plotner at Ragdoll Studio in Portland, OR. Cover art by K. Valdoria Peterson.

Saturnine Saturday

displaced southern Californian, Fil-American singer-songwriter, fatuous pauper

Valdoria

Pinned to spotlight

Popular tracks