“Patterns and repetitions to contrast the ever-changing self.” We know Sean Conrad gets it. Over his many releases as Channelers, Ashan, and half of Orra, as well as curating the like-minded he surrounds himself with on his label Inner Islands, Conrad has become an institution, a purveyor of inner peace and personal betterment through meditative music, or music and meditation, and his corner is an easy one to be in because it’s all done in the interest of harmonizing yourself with your environment before embarking on a path of sharing that peace and joy with others. That’s why his pastoral ambient/drone/folk tunage is the sincerest pastoral ambient/drone/folk tunage, his personal pumpkin patch of sound is surely the one the Great Pumpkin is going to visit this Halloween. Over four languid tracks, Conrad explores change as he stretches out his compositions and allows them to become their own entities, growing and evolving along with their composer until they become one in the mind and the heart. As always with Channelers releases, there’s that great “Om” potential where inward projection of consciousness may just indeed lift you to some higher plane of tranquility. Consider the fern on the cover of “Slow Leaf Spell,” and imagine the sounds passing up and down the living cells of the plant, energizing it and allowing it to align its vibrations with that of ours. As we listen and contemplate the cellular workings of it, we are slowly and methodically hypnotized by its life force. We can learn from that, and we can make the Inner Islands way, the Channelers way, a part of our own existence.
Channelers
Posts
