Channelers - Ringing In An Open Sky / Skyminds - Echoes On The Shore
A double shot of greatness from the Inner Islands label. Channelers' latest sees the Seattle-based label's main guy Sean Conrad pursuing inner peace via cathedral-like tones, his celestial dulcimer and EWI (electronic wind instrument)Â floating, echoing, and yeah, ringing like bells, with only the barest of bass lines keeping things tethered to earth. All of the Channelers releases are worth your time, but Ringing In An Open Sky feels like the most crystallized/crystalline refinement of Conrad's vision yet. Totally beautiful.
Next, we've got Skyminds' Echoes On The Shore, Sean's collab with Michael Henning (AKA Selaroda), which has a similarly meditative style, but with a bit more rhythmic anchoring, as the duo locates mellow/majestic grooves and gorgeous melodies — you'll definitely think of Popol Vuh at their prettiest at times. Even if these songs began as loose improvs, there's an inner logic and intricacy that highlights the easygoing mind-meld Conrad and Henning share. Tragically, Henning passed away earlier this year; Echoes is a more than fitting epitaph.
