Val Emmich is truly a jack of many trades and has proven himself a master of anything he takes on. A creative soul, he is inspired by the world around him. He takes bits and pieces of life, love and spirit and pours them into his work, be it in his writing, his acting or, most importantly, his music. Little Daggers, his first release for bluhammock music, set to hit on September 30, is a warm, thrilling, intense ode to human emotion and reality. The songs, like those little daggers, definitely pierce the skin though they're not quite weapons. They're more like flirtatious invitations to dance, or tiny mirrors forcing you to reflect. Or maybe they're just songs inspiring your devotion. No matter how you define it, Little Daggers feels like a celebration.

No stranger to the music industry, Val's first release was an acoustic EP entitled The Fifteen Minute Relationship with artwork that read like a self-help book instructing the listener how to fall in and out of love in just fifteen minutes. Seven years later he's got five albums under his belt, releasing two on indie labels (Childlike and bluhammock), one on a major (Epic), and two independently. He has also worn his soles thin by touring extensively with artists like Dashboard Confessional, Butch Walker, Gavin Degraw, The Honorary Title, Better Than Ezra and others. Val is not happy if he's not creating- which may account for the fad that not only is he a musician; he's also a novelist (he just recently finished his first book!) and an accomplished actor who's been quietly flying under the radar till now. Val will be playing Betty's new love interest in the upcoming season of UGLY BETTY. Recent appearances on 30 Rock and Cashmere Ma.. alongside Tina Fey and Lucy Liu have garnered Val much deserved attention outside of the music world, but Little Daggers will most definitely be the record that brings the much deserved attention back to where Val wants it, on his music.

Little Daggers was produced and engineered by Emmich, who also played a majority of the instruments on the record. The album boasts an array of guest musicians that includes Blake Sennett of Rilo Kiley, longtime drummer Eric Micali and Jason Cupp who mixed and produced two of the ten tracks on Little Daggers. When approached about his goals with the record, Emmich says, "Pop music is tricky because we've been trained not to expect much meaning in it. I love big melodies, but I also love songs with a strong, lasting message. " The songs on Little Daggers nimbly balance those two goals - they're simple yet substantial, accessible yet challenging, introspective yet danceable. 

Opening track "The Lucky Ones" is rife with soaring, sing-along melodies that will get you up and shimmying along. Second track, "Get On With It," is the beginning of a love storythose first few awkward moments in a relationship where you want everything to speed up but there's still the element of fear and uncertainty: "You're a perfect myth built on a movie set - and and I'm walking a wire with no safity net- ifl'm a gambling man then you're a risky bet- but I'm sick of leaving before the tables set - I'm about as ready now as I'll ever get." Little Daggers closes with the loss of love, but not before offering the hope of a new beginning on "Catalyst." Emmich's voice is haunting and wrapped seductively in what feels like a full orchestral line. The lyrics cue the listener into understanding that sometimes the only way to fix something is to leave it behind and start fresh.