Oakland-based musician Kellen Shipley's contemporaries sometimes have their sound appropriated for the environment of the listener, such as a bedroom or another in-house setting. Shipley's latest cassette effort on Cloud Valley, entitled Found Out West, paints on a much more landscape canvas as opposed to these artists. To elaborate, Found Out West seems fit for watching a sunrise with slight overcast peering through.
At 47 minutes' worth, the sounds that Shipley and co. produce are blissful and vast, incorporating saxophone, pennywhistle, and glockenspiel among more traditional instrumentation. This collective of musicians creates an expansive yet gentle atmosphere within the orchestrations. The synthesizer are meditatively sustained as saxophone, trumpet and pennywhistle soar over the cavernous tones. Complementing these rich textures is a cascading, damaged guitar tone (provided by Greg Manata) that adds a warm density within the greater scheme of a piece-- and even takes the forefront of the closer "Skipping Stones." Found Out West doesn't completely distance itself from the listener, though. On "A Sea At The End Of The West," Roll Over Rover companion Sean McCann introduces a banjo melody towards its conclusion to offer a stint of clarity.
Found Out West recalls traveling within the titles and the theme set by the music itself: a trek through an otherworldly environment is taken to reach a point of intimacy-- where the listener finds their destination. Instead of being alienated by the transcendental area once embarked, they're mesmerized by it. Quite a distance from home, but completely worth the walk.
[Kellen Shipley/Bats In The Belfry Myspace]
[Buy Found Out West from Cloud Valley]
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