Snow Palms - Land Waves [Village Green Recordings 057]

Put out on the circuit via Village Green Recordings on December 11th, 2k20 is "Land Waves", the third ever longplay outing the now duo cooked up for the label since their debut saw the light of day back in 2k12. On their seven tracks and roughly 43 minutes spanning journey we see project founder David Sheppard and production partner Matt Gooderson encounter highly chromatic Electronica soundscapes from the very first moments of the lively, well frolicking opener "Atom Dance" onwards which pairs the minimalist approach of certain subsets of Contemporary Classical music with seemingly Japanese melodic influences and beats at breakneck speed, working their way up to an ecstatic climax lasting throughout the majority of the song whilst "Everything Ascending" builds its vibrant, emerging and ever layered, hounded synth motifs on top of an ominous, muffled heartbeat and  "Evening Rain Gardens" presents itself in an equally calming and crystalline manner like a toddlers musical clock whilst adding soothing layers of female non-vocalisms to the equation for an bit of extra comfort. The subsequent title track "Land Waves" explores nightly, well futuristic and shimmering urban landscapes before progressing into more krautsy, meandering territories after a full on drum set enters the scene, "Thought Shadow" harks back to crystalline beauty with its glockenspiel'esque melodies and tender, naturalistic string section whereas "Kojo Yakei" focuses on the polyrhythmic interaction of soft pads and multicolored percussion meanderings and the closing tune that is "White Cranes Return" waves goodbye in a calm, friendly and all embracing manner providing the perfect soundtrack for a cozy winter afternoon. A hyperchromatic trip, this.

Album artwork on Instagram