How does one get to a place that’s as Zen as Sean Conrad’s state of
mind at exactly all times? Because if someone’s got the secret, I’d like to
know about. Maybe it’s not such a secret after all – Conrad’s been running
Inner Islands for a minute now, and this is his tenth (!) Channelers release,
and first since 2015. He’s recorded solo and with others as Ashan, Orra,
Skyminds, and he’s surrounded himself with a likeminded group of astral travelers
and interior explorers. The secret is all in the music itself – bottled,
distilled, ready for distribution.
Isles Beyond is an
exploration of devotional improvisation utilizing mainly acoustic instruments,
and the results are stunning (as per friggin usual). No one goes down a
meditative path like Sean Conrad does – he’s just the new master of the new New
Age headspace, perfectly placing those dulcimer hits and those guitar string
plucks and those piano fragments. It’s even more impressive that Conrad does
not wield a synthesizer like a crutch – it’s so easy to draw out those tones
(and I LOVE me some cosmic synth work, don’t get me wrong), but here the music
is much more lived in, the subtleties much more natural, the spirituality much
more accessible. How is it that each Channelers release is as gloriously
uplifting as the last? It’s that secret again – it’s in the DNA of the music.
https://channelers.bandcamp.com/
https://innerislands.bandcamp.com/
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