VALLEY MAKER – When I Was A Child (Brick Lane Records)

VALLEY MAKER When I Was A ChildValley Maker is more a pseudonym than a band. At its heart is songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and singer, Austin Crane, and When I Was A Child is his/their first album.

It’s a complex record, reflecting a complex man. He was born into a close-knit Bible Belt community, developed a taste for indie music, attended college and travelled, living near Denver when he wrote the oldest song in the set, ‘Take My People Dancing. His songs reflect a sense of otherness, biblical references abounding but without Austin taking a definite stance on the subject. There is a sense of waiting and searching for something or someone and always asking questions. ‘Pretty Little Life Form’ is an odd title for an odd love song. “I love you, not yet/But I will when I’m a better man” is typical of the dichotomy that runs through his work as though he’s struggling to bring the world into balance. With ‘The Mission’ and ‘Goodness’ it seems that Austin finally sees the future and isn’t too unhappy with what he finds there.

Musically, When I Was A Child is full of rich sounds built around Austin’s guitars – he also plays chimes and piano – from which he extracts a big ringing sound. Second vocalist Amy Godwin (piano and chimes) and guitarist/percussionist Nathan Poole are the two constant sidespersons with bass and drums recruited for the studio sessions. Twenty-seven might be considered quite old to be making a debut by today’s standards but Austin’s travels and philosophical questing have distilled so much into his first album.

Dai Jeffries

If you would like to order a copy of the album, download it or just listen to snippets of selected tracks (track previews are usually on the download page) then click on the banner link below to be taken to our associated partner Amazon’s website.

Artists’ website: http://www.valleymaker.com/

‘Pretty Little Life Form’ – solo, acoustic, live:

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