Back in 2023, when Toronto alt-pop combo Valley had just released Lost in Translation, singer Rob Laska told Apple Music that they had not only done some refocusing as a band—reassessing and tweaking their sound, for instance—but had also undergone some group therapy. “Being a band for so long,” he said, “you really need to work on honing your chemistry.” Water the Flowers, Pray for a Garden, their third proper album, is very much a tending to those emotions. And it’s a revised mission statement of sorts: a new outlook that, after the amicable departure of guitarist Mickey Brandolino, the remaining trio have taken towards fostering friendships and trusting in life’s cyclical nature. The song titles do a fair bit of heavy lifting in support of the album’s themes. The title track is about making a leap of faith when everything is telling you not to. And “Growing (Apart)” is a gentle, slow-burning but scathing appraisal of a relationship’s downfall. But it’s “Let It Rain” that feels the most poignant here, a sweet ode to going through changes in which the band pays tribute to their former member. "Mickey plays guitar, fumblin’ through the good parts,” sings Laska. “Sweet child of mine, never found the time, he’s always changing, rearranging.”