Review: Phelan Sheppard - Harps Old Master (or) collapsing cat and the tatum way

Posted on 22 March 2007 | No Comments

Filed Under: Album Reviews, Electronic, Folk

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The music of the London duo Phelan Sheppard is perfect for early morning when the dew is still on the grass, before the sun has risen, and just before the coffee is done. Their latest album Harps Old Master is full of airy ambient folktronica that is much less bombastic than (say) stuff from Four Tet. This record is much more about texture.

Keiron Phelan and David Sheppard are (duh?) Phelan Sheppard. Sheppard is currently writing a biography of Brian Eno and is also part of the group Ellis Island Sound as well. The duo also records as State River Widening who’s last album Cottonhead has been a favorite of mine for a few years now. You should check that record out as well.

As for Harps Old Master, it is a fairly minimal and organic sounding album. Mixing little electronic noises and digital artifacts with instrumentation like woodwinds, chimes, various percussion, drum machines, strings, and filtered acoustic guitar, the result is something that comes in somewhere between driving ambient (if there is such a thing) and fluttering melodies wrapped around lite-hop beats.

It is the sound of falling snow that catches the glint of the setting sun. It is the sound of the Earth turning on its own axis. Harps Old Master is a fantastic album that is available now from the Leaf Record Label.

MP3 | Phelan Sheppard – Water Clock Harps Old Master
MP3 | Phelan Sheppard – Tjarno Harps Old Master
MP3 | State River Widening – Madder Hues Cottonhead