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Valley Maker (from the album When the Day Leaves available on Frenchkiss Records)
Delicate musical soundscapes surround the words of Valley Maker as the musician touches on the mishmash of feelings and emotions that drifted like dust motes through the air of 2020. The collection of stories moves between extremes, stretching from aspiration to exasperation as When the Day Leaveslistens to a man and woman speak/sing in tandem on the title track. On a lyrical flow that marches step by step with a repetitive guitar note pattern, Valley Maker trudges across When the Day Leaves on “Voice Inside the Well”, chasing a caffeinated beat to tell the tale of “Pine Trees”, and trying to trace lines from a beginning to an end of his thoughts of the past and future with “Mockingbird”. The man behind the Valley Maker moniker brought an already established uncertainty into the fractured days, weeks, and months of 2020 when Austin Crane (aka Valley Maker) prepared to leave a decade long home in Seattle, Washington. While in the Northwest, Austin Crane pursued a doctorate in human geography, returning to his own Roots in Columbia, South Carolina. Adding to the intricate soundscapes created by Valley Maker and producer Trevor Spencer on When the Day Leaves are the harmonies of Amy Godwin. Vocals that accent the words and expand on the drifting musical dreams. Amy Godwin is an integral part of the kaleidoscopic sound of When the Day Leaves. The rhythm walks with heavy footsteps on “No One is Missing” and offers brightly picked notes that sparkle while surrounding the storyline in “Freedom”. In the Valley Maker press release, When the Day Leaves is described as ‘an uninterrupted sequence of reflections about the generational limbo of being awed by and worried for this world’. Valley Maker is the guide, his reflections precise as he opens the album on gentle acoustics with “Branch I Bend”, his judgments and hopes carried on the confident beat of “Instrument” while “On a Revelation” uses electric guitar chords to give the harmonies jabs as they tell the story of their collective Blues. Listen and buy the music of Valley Maker from AMAZON For more info, check out the Valley Maker website
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