\Valerie Polichar's project Huge Shark explores multiple adult alternative musical styles in her keyboard-based compositions. After years playing a standing folk-music gig at a local coffeehouse, Polichar fronted a blues and R&B band, singing in San Diego dive bars and college clubs. Huge Shark's sound ranges from electropop to folk-rock to singer/songwriter, anchored by foundational piano, eloquent lyrics and Polichar’s clear, intense voice.
Since her 2015 Huge Shark EP Almost Over, Polichar has been recording and mixing solo in her living room on a Yamaha keyboard. Almost Over enjoyed solid airplay on indie and college stations, and the video for “Line of Life (Ummagma remix),” created by Scottish filmmaker Robin Johnston, won Best International Electro/Dance/Techno Video at the Australian Independent Music Video awards. On 2023’s Everything, she’s looked to contributions from international collaborators, including Garry Franklin (U.S.) on vocals, Gary Gahan (Canada) on saxophones, Hilliat Fields (United Kingdom) on guitars and Ebow, Pete Nickerson (Canada) on drums and bass and Michael Wojtasiak (U.S.) on guitars.
For Everything, recorded over a period of seven years, Polichar revisited older compositions in new arrangements and penned five new tracks. “Recording work from another part of my life lets me see through a window into my past emotional self,” she says. “What amazes me is how consistent my heart has been; how familiar and immediate those long-ago feelings are. The songs are little communication lines to which I hope others, too, will connect.”
