10/7 – New Brookland Tavern – Columbia, SC Facebook Event
When Stereogum debuted the new Valley Maker video yesterday for “Only Friend” and released tour dates along with other upcoming news I realized that this was the first time SceneSC wasn’t the ones to do that sort of thing. It’s a really cool and exciting feeling to see how far he’s come since I first saw him live, opening for Sequoyah Prep School in Justin Osborne’s (Susto) back yard in Florence ten years ago.
For some of us, When I Was a Child, which is due out September 25 on Brick Lane Records, is a rerelease of sorts. Two years ago Valley Maker released Yes I Know I’ve Loved this World digitally. Austin Crane, the songwriter behind Valley Maker, wrote that album, containing many of the songs on the upcoming record, over the three years prior about “coming to terms with various ideas and events in, around, before and beyond my (our?) existence and experiences.” The new album has some of the same recordings, and some new versions recorded at the Unknown in Anacortes, Washington.
“The Unknown is this cavernous repurposed church where Phil Elverum (The Microphones, Mount Eerie) made his recent records,” says Crane. “A sense of space is important to this record. So we had microphones placed throughout the large room we were tracking in, just to capture the natural feel of playing the songs in this particular space.”
Crane’s musical career is somewhat hard to track. His two solo albums prior to the debut Valley Maker record are now hidden gems. Now Crane and his Valley Maker project are firmly on the map with When I Was a Child and its upcoming release.
In his bio Valley Maker frontman Austin Crane mentions early key influences like Bill Callahan (Smog), Will Oldham (Bonnie “Prince” Billy), Chan Marshall (Cat Power) and Jason Molina (Songs: Ohia). It makes me wonder what was going on in Florence in the early 2000’s when so many great South Carolina musicians were entrenched with the music of those excellent artists and creating music of their own at the same time as teens.
When I Was a Child Track Listing:
1. Oh Lightning
2. By My Side
3. Only Friend
4. Only Time
5. Something Like Someone
6. Pretty Little Life Form
7. Take My People Dancing
8. Another Way Home
9. Partial View
10. The Mission
11. Goodness
12. When I Was A Child
Valley Maker will be touring this fall in support of When I Was A Child:
9/25 – Barboza – Seattle, WA
9/27 – The Waypost – Portland, OR
9/30 – The Shakedown – Bellingham, WA
10/7 – New Brookland Tavern – Columbia, SC
10/8 – Local Band-Local Beer @ Tir na nOg – Raleigh, NC
10/9 – Redux – Charleston, SC
10/10 – The Drunken Unicorn – Atlanta, GA
10/11 – The Stone Fox – Nashville, TN
10/12 – The Mothlight – Asheville, NC
