David Grellier is a 33-year-old French electronic musician and founder of the collective Valerie. Since 2005, Grellier has created music under the moniker “College.” Most notably, Grellier contributed the song “A Real Hero” to the soundtrack of the 2011 film Drive. Following College’s albums Secret Diary and Northern Council, Invada is set to release Heritage on August 26. Check out two cuts from Heritage below, as well as some words Grellier recently posted on the Valerie site about writing the album.

From the Valerie Collective site:

When I was a child I drew a lot, feeding my imagination with cartoons and collections of illustrations borrowed from the library. Several months ago, while I was unpacking some boxes during a move, I came across one of my sketches from that time and, with it, a multitude of memories resurfaced. I realised then the fascination that works like ‘Starwatcher’ had exerted over me and how formative French Science Fiction had been in the way I compose music.

With this album, I wanted to pay tribute to those wonderful artists that include, among others, René Laloux, Jean Chalopin, Bernard Deyriès, Shuki Levy and obviously Moebius, whose recent death I learned of when I had finished writing ‘Heritage’. Having such profound admiration for the work of Jean Giraud makes the melancholic accents of the record resonate with me today in a very special way… Since exploring the period of the Cold War with ‘Northern Council’, my work has taken on a more intimate dimension. Yet I see this record as a timeless journey; one where the melodies can ultimately reflect everyone’s story.