Listen: Valley Maker releases sophomore album 'Rhododendron'

Friday Oct 12th 2018

News snacks

In the mood for some sweet, melancholia-filled folk music? In that case, you should definitely give Valley Maker - aka Austin Crane - a spin. Today, he released his second full-length album 'Rhododendron', which marks his debut for Frenchkiss Records.

On the album, Crane - who's also a PhD student in Human Geography - sings about the concept of movement. Reflecting both the rootedness and rootlessness that shapes Valley Maker’s songwriting on the precipice of his third decade, 'Rhododendron' results in a 39-minute mystical trail of exquisite folk songs. Listen to the album below.

"Rhododendron was produced in Portland and Seattle with Toro y Moi’s Chaz Bear and Trevor Spencer (Father John Misty, Fleet Foxes), and you can hear their subtle touches at work in lead single “Light On The Ground”. Crane’s guitar work is as rhythmic and nimble as ever, but here it’s buoyed by a steady beat and cloaked in dreamy wisps of saxophone. Meanwhile, Crane’s cracked, yearning vocals explore themes familiar to fans of his work: his wandering faith; the weight of your upbringing; the embrace of life’s discoveries. “God is a name that I thought that I knew/ Found in a place that I fell into,” he sings." - Consequence of Sound

Valley Maker will perform at Le Guess Who? 2018 together with a.o. Devendra Banhart, Vashti Bunyan, Tirzah, Rodrigo Amarante, Kate NV, Alabaster DePlume, Cass McCombs, Shannon Lay, and many more