The exchange
Isaac Vallentin is a Nova Scotia-based singer-songwriter and producer. This conversation looks at the everyday details, influences, and playful answers behind his creative practice.
The original conversation appeared around the release of Juma, an album that moved across folk, electronic, rock, and jazz traditions.
20 Questions with Isaac Vallentin
1. Your first job.
Dishwasher.
2. The job you always wanted as a child?
Animator.
3. Your pet peeve.
Ignorance.
4. Your hero.
Siddhartha Gautama.
5. Your biggest indulgence.
Dark chocolate.
6. One thing no one knows about you.
What I’m thinking right now.
7. Three things you would want with you on a deserted island.
A lamp, a knife, and a copy of War and Peace.
8. The one word your best friend would use to describe you.
Tall.
9. If they made a movie about your life, who would it star?
Nicolas Cage.
10. Hero or villain?
Neither.
11. Your life’s motto or mantra.
A wish for happiness, peace, self-acceptance, mutual care, and an end to suffering.
12. The last book you read.
Cosmopolitan Greetings by Ginsberg.
13. The song getting the most play on your playlist right now.
“Vessel” by Ralph Towner and Gary Burton, from Slide Show.
14. If you were a cartoon character, what cartoon character would you be?
Bugs Bunny.
15. What will it say on your grave marker?
A deliberately elaborate joke about a memorial stone having nothing to do with the circumstances of his death.
16. Who would you most like to have dinner with?
His partner, Allyson.
17. Your idea of happiness.
Always.
18. If you could go back in time, what would you tell your twenty-year-old self?
Relax, but not too much.
19. The one thing in your life that makes you most proud.
All the wonderful people he has met.
20. To be or not to be?
Being is everything he knows; it takes work, and he looks forward to rest beyond this life.
Meet Isaac Vallentin
Isaac Vallentin is a songwriter and producer based in Nova Scotia. Since 2015, Vallentin has released four genre-spanning albums shaped by folk, electronic, rock, and jazz.
Juma, his fourth LP, was released in April 2022. His work has reached audiences across North America, Europe, and Asia, with releases through Record Centre Records, E-Tron Records, and MIDI International.