Vanessa Craven – Filtered Light

Vanessa Craven with her Welsh / Indian background is a folk musician at heart, and plays her unique mix of folk, blues and country. Her music reflects her diverse heritage and musical influences.

She is a multi-instrumentalist and plays the cajon drum, floor tambourine, harmonica and guitar. She currently plays mainly in Open G and Open D (DADF#AD), droped D, as well as standard tunings. She also surprises listeners, by throwing in a touch of didgeridoo in some songs in order to add atmosphere and colour to her music.

She plays covers as well as originals ,and concocts a variety of music that will charm listeners of all age groups. Here clear melodious ‘easy listening voice’ and instrumentals keep the audience engaged, and wanting more.

FILTERED LIGHT TRACK LISTING (VANESSA CRAVEN)

1. One Last Shot (Vanessa Craven) 3.56 2. 2. Russian Caravan Tea (Vanessa Craven) 3.11 3. Nights in White Satin (David Justin Hayward) 3.57 4. Perfect World (J. Campbell and N. Naramore) 4.02 5. Burning Sand (Colin Bowes and Vanessa Craven) 4.20 6. Got A Mind To Ramble (Andrew James Collins) 4.18 7. Gossip Guru (Vanessa Craven) 4.45 8. The River (Vanessa Craven) 3.19 9. On Eagles Wings (Vanessa Craven) 6.18 10. Sally’s Song (Vanessa Craven) 5.01 11. Isa Lei Mara Ratu Sir Kami Uluilakeba) 3.41 12. I Believe In You (Bob Dylan) 4.53 13. Lullaby for Monty (Vanessa Craven) 2.44

CD Review by John Williams

Vanessa hails from Daylesford, Victoria where she has played a big role in getting the first two Daylesford Spring Folk/Blues Festivals off the ground.

She is a multi instrumentalist with a Welsh/Indian background who sings all vocals on the CD.

Vanessa has won busking competitions and been a finalist in both the prestigious Brunswick and Maldon songwriting competitions.

You might say she has paid her musical dues with the release of this, her first album.

And it shows.

This is a lovely CD to listen to from start to finish, literally.

The first track, One Last Shot’ makes you want to sit up and listen and the final track, ‘Lullaby for Monty’ is a beautiful instrumental which leaves you feeling at peace after listening to it.

Both tracks were composed by Vanessa along with another six on the CD.

They are all of high quality covering topics as diverse as neighbours, chooks, water, office gossip, tea and beloved pets.

Talk about a variety of topics.

In addition there are five song covers on the CD. The highlight was a superb rendition of ‘Knights in White Satin’. I also enjoyed Vanessa’s interpretation of the Bob Dylan song, ‘I Believe in You’.

Vanessa is accompanied on the CD by Pete Fidler (dobro), George Condos (latin guitar), Peter Vadivelou (udu, percussion), Paul Jones (violin) and Aurora Jane (bass) who also recorded, mixed and produced the CD.

You can catch Vanessa around the Daylesford/ Hepburn Springs area where she has regular gigs.

Better still, buy this CD and support the local music industry.

It is a CD well worth considering.