David Sheppard resets his Snow Palms alias into an ensemble configuration for a 12” slice of multi-movement tunnelling and orchestral sophistication

In a multi-dimensional but dilettantism-free career, that has thus far taken in journalism, broadcasting, academia, studio production, ambidextrous supporting player work and pivotal roles in persistently pioneering outfits such as State River Widening, Ellis Island Sound, The Wisdom Of Harry and Phelan Sheppard, David Sheppard should by now be a household name, in experimentalist connoisseur circles at the very least.  Seemingly forever the read and heard but rarely the seen, the polymath’s polymath continues to occupy his own niche spaces on a self-set timetable. Having shifted most of his musical output to the broad nouveau-classical church of Village Green in recent years, Sheppard has doubled-down on reaching beyond his post-rock ripened pedigree of the last twenty or so years with more ambitious yet intimate explorations.

Enter then, his first release with Snow Palms since 2017’s Origin And Echo LP.  Previously a loose duo partnership with Ochre’s Christopher Leary, the project is now a reconfigured ensemble operation. With new primary cohort Matt Gooderson (modular synths, piano, production et al.) as well as Christian Forshaw (clarinet) and Megan Gooderson (vocals) augmenting Sheppard’s signature glockenspiel matrices and electronic layers, the 10-minute A-side of this 12” single takes Snow Palms into another sonic strata.  Seamlessly stitched into several overlapping movements that shift across bullet train-like propulsions, glistening twinkling interludes, prowling juddering rhythmscapes and elegiac ululations, “Everything Ascending” feels like a high-speed journey from mid-‘60s white-heat optimism, through early-‘80s technological utopianism and on to a currently-hard-to-imagine optimistic future, with all the bad dispiriting phases in-between blurred-out through its sound ride. As a whole, the piece invokes the deft intricacies of Kraftwerk’s maddeningly out-of-print Ralf And Florian refracted through an expansive Music For 18 Musicians-era Steve Reich prism.  The flipside is another bold yet somewhat unexpected statement.  It finds labelmate and film score orchestrator Matt Dunkley rearranging the percussively hypnotic “Circling” (from the aforementioned Origin And Echo) as a cinematic violin and cello soaked reverie that seems destined to be picked-up by a discerning TV drama soundtrack commissioner.

Taken together, these two wide and deep offerings reconfirm David Sheppard’s credentials as a consummate collaborator, still highly-adept at making avant-garde alcoves agreeably accessible without breaking into an undignified sweat. 

villagegreenrecordings.co.uk

Adrian
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