I’d stumbled across ‘David Galleher’ in a few things I’ve enjoyed recently, prior to writing this post. From a video we featured on our ‘vertical playing’ post, through to one of the earliest demonstrations of the ‘Saraz’ HandPan, that we featured on our facebook page. So that with this cold English winter upon us, and feeling in need of a little cheering up, I decided to seek out more...
At the time of writing, David Galleher has only the one release, via his Bandcamp page (though more will surely follow), ‘Land Sea and Sky’. A collection of six sizeable tracks kicking off with lead composition ‘Laughing Water’ (presumably a hat-tip to the location where Handpangea is held), a ridiculously ominous track that leads with tension, and then riffs it up big time with some serious beats of such, that I knew from track one, that I was in for a good listen.
Track two stands a dreamy eight minute long monolith, with, ‘Little Bear’, a track title that possibly confirms our suspicions, that yes, this album is primarily (if not solely) performed on Pantheon Steel Halo. ‘Monsoon’ (another Halo reference?) borrows the building intensity of Laughing Waters, but projects a more optimistic feeling, like pre show-down music, contemplation before the upcoming battle. While adversely, track four, ‘Experimentation Improvisation’, if applied to a movie score, would be more suitable for an after-conflict soft-focus taking in of the battle field, introspective, smoky, and full of carnage of recent past.
Track five, ‘Wanderlust’, is probably my favorite track on the album, I find this one hard to describe, but this track has the kind of anaesthetising quality I often find myself seeking out in HandPan music, in bucket-loads. The cold grey winter outside my window disappeared entirely for six minutes fifthteen, and I felt completely soothed. And track six, ‘Brown Rice Beat’ ties the journey up nicely, maintaining the overall feel of the album, but demonstrating a slightly more relaxed flick of the wrist.
Summary:
I really enjoyed this album. An argument could be made that it would have been nice to hear some different HandPan thrown into the mix, for a little more variety of sound. But having listened to it a few times through now, personally, in this instance, I’d have to argue against that. I enjoyed the consistency of the vibe - the difference between visiting a quantity of locations, but only for a very short duration of time (ala cruise ship style), and setting down anchor someplace breezy for an extended while, and getting the opportunity to really explore its coves in detail...
At the time of writing, David Galleher has only the one release, via his Bandcamp page (though more will surely follow), ‘Land Sea and Sky’. A collection of six sizeable tracks kicking off with lead composition ‘Laughing Water’ (presumably a hat-tip to the location where Handpangea is held), a ridiculously ominous track that leads with tension, and then riffs it up big time with some serious beats of such, that I knew from track one, that I was in for a good listen.
Track five, ‘Wanderlust’, is probably my favorite track on the album, I find this one hard to describe, but this track has the kind of anaesthetising quality I often find myself seeking out in HandPan music, in bucket-loads. The cold grey winter outside my window disappeared entirely for six minutes fifthteen, and I felt completely soothed. And track six, ‘Brown Rice Beat’ ties the journey up nicely, maintaining the overall feel of the album, but demonstrating a slightly more relaxed flick of the wrist.
Summary:
I really enjoyed this album. An argument could be made that it would have been nice to hear some different HandPan thrown into the mix, for a little more variety of sound. But having listened to it a few times through now, personally, in this instance, I’d have to argue against that. I enjoyed the consistency of the vibe - the difference between visiting a quantity of locations, but only for a very short duration of time (ala cruise ship style), and setting down anchor someplace breezy for an extended while, and getting the opportunity to really explore its coves in detail...
