Rhian Sheehan – A Quiet Divide

Rhian Sheehan – A Quiet Divide
(Loop)

Reviewed by Emily Lipsys.

Elegy for the past is the first beautiful, ambient track that leads into the rest of New Zealand composer/musician, Rhian Sheehans’ new album ‘A Quiet Divide’. It just consistently builds up with overlapping sound and gives the feeling of being underwater. In fact, as a whole the album ebbs and flows on from one track into the next, with each new piece taking you further on a cinematic journey.

In true Rhian Sheehan style this album is an instrumental one, predominantly built around the piano and orchestral instruments which gives it huge amounts of light and dark, depth and emotion. Sheehan is an artist who hasn’t wanted to be confined by just one genre. As we see from his past offerings which were more electronic based, in comparison with his last album, Stories from Elsewhere (2013), and now, A Quiet Divide, which have an ambient post/rock orchestral sound.

Track two, The Absence of You, has a real cinematic sound, with a driving violin melody along with flowing piano-you could be listening to the theme song of an action/mystery movie. Soma Dreams (track 4) almost transports you to another place-starting with a quiet voice of a lady speaking Japanese, building up with ambient, soaring orchestral and synth sounds. The composition and use of instruments has an oriental sort of feel to it at the start. This piece harks back to Sheehans past works with elements of electronic beats and effects showing up throughout.

We Danced Under A Broken Sky is the sixth track and begins with the twinkling sounds of violins, and ambience of synths under it all. It flows on nicely and then explodes into a huge wall of sound at the mid point of the song with drums and layered guitars adding extra depth. Suddenly dropping down to beautiful ambient sounds like star light. Track nine – Atlas stands out because it has a different feel to the other tracks. It has undulating, repeating electronic sounds, giving the effect of being underwater under big crashing waves.

April (track 12) is probably my favourite from this album. Starting out atmospheric and emotional, again with orchestral instruments – the piano being the main part carrying this piece along. The piano melody is beautiful, with an addition of a xylophone sound chiming over top of some of the melody, adding more mystery to it.

A Quiet Divide has been assembled in some of NZ’s finest recording spaces. Mainly recorded at home, and underwent additional recording at Roundhead Studios and The Surgery Studios, with a 16-piece section also recorded at Wellington’s Stella Maris Chapel, conducted by Hamish McKeich (New Zealand Symphony Orchestra). While largely created by Sheehan himself, the album also features contributions from long-time collaborators including his wife Raashi Malik, Jeff Boyle (Jakob), Jol Mulholland, Ryan Youens,and Steve Bremner, and also features the talented Justin Bird, Arli Liberman, Anna Edgington and Levi Patel.

The underlying theme of the album is about our relationship with the past. It is a magical piece of instrumentation, and Sheehan evokes the imagination with his music. He paints pictures with each note, and each instrument in each track. In my opinion music goes beyond the borders of countries, language, and embraces all generations. Often words or lyrics in songs can limit us, and Sheehan lets the music speak for itself and opens it up for everyone to engage in.

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