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Valley Maker at the Fox Cabaret

Valley Maker at the Fox Cabaret, Vancouver, Nov 11 2021. Kirk Chantraine photo.

Review & Photos – Valley Maker at the Fox Cabaret, Vancouver, Nov 11 2021

Braving heavy rain, and dark fall streets, Vancouverites gathered at the Fox Cabaret on Thursday night. For many, this excursion marked an exciting return. Masks on and vaccine cards in hand, they entered the dimly-lit venue and sat down in the rows of seats that occupied the same floor where they used to mingle and dance. Despite the changes, the audience was captivated and the energy in the room excited. “This feels special”, Austin Crane declared from the stage.

Crane, the singer, songwriter and guitarist that is Valley Maker, performed songs from his latest album, When the Day Leaves, along with several “old jams”. Nimbly finger-picking an acoustic guitar, he opened the show with the single “Branch I Bend”. His rugged voice singing, “Hold on, day, don’t cut me loose / Wash my hands, thin my blues / Contemplate the passing through / All in a day’s work”. Accompanying vocalist Amy Godwin provided a delicate contrast, her hopeful tone harmonizing with Crane’s rawness.

Crane and Godwin are the pictures of Pacific Northwest style. Wearing leather boots and utility jackets, they each sip a can of Parallel 49 Craft Lager between songs. Having recently moved from Seattle to his former college town in South Carolina, Crane cites a nostalgia for the rain and dreary days of the Pacific Northwest; a feeling he captures in the single “Mockingbird”. “Where it came from I don’t know / Fog burns, the day unrolls / I walk the dog and coast / I could not admit my ghost”.

Valley Maker at the Fox Cabaret, Vancouver, Nov 11 2021. Kirk Chantraine photo.

There was a time, Crane noted, when he wondered if touring was ever going to happen again. Thankfully, it has. The reflective tone of Valley Maker’s atmospheric folk rock may seem melancholy, but as the music reverberated through the room it gave way to a feeling of solace. The quiet isolation of one’s thoughts is comforted by the experience of sharing it with others. It was indeed special.

Following their kick-off show in Vancouver, Crane and Godwin are heading down the coast for a ten-show Valley Maker tour ending in California later this month.

More Valley Maker at the Fox Cabaret photos:

Contributors

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Julie Rankin

Julie Rankin is a writer and a designer and developer of digital experiences. She currently operates her own holistic creative studio that aims to push the boundaries of what we can build together on the web. Julie is passionate about digital sustainability, accessibility and user experience. In addition to serving as editor and writer at Bright Noise, Julie also writes fiction. She can often be found cycling, walking along the Vancouver seawall, or enjoying some live music.

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Kirk Chantraine

Kirk Chantraine is a Canadian photographer and software developer currently based in Vancouver, British Columbia. He graduated from Vancouver Film School for 3D Animation in 2004 and has been working in the Visual Effects industry ever since with companies such as Electronic Arts and Disney. Over the last few years Kirk has exhibited his photographic works in San Francisco and Vancouver. A music aficionado and vinyl junkie, Kirk shoots live music and performance at an inhuman pace across North America for Bright Noise , along with landscape and portraiture. If you're buying: gin-and-tonics. He is @kchantraine on socials.

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