Vertical Land

Multi-instrumentalist and composer David John Sheppard presents his first bona fide solo album, Vertical Land. The writer and orchestrator behind the acclaimed State River Widening, Ellis Island Sound, Snow Palms, and Leaf recording artists Phelan/Sheppard, Sheppard began the tracks percussively by inserting pencils into guitars to make false bridges, then hammering the strings with vibraphone mallets, or by applying layers of masking tape to the strings of an upright piano in order to create a raw percussive instrument. Marimbas, glockenspiels, and mountain dulcimers were all attacked with a similar sense of primal reflex until the compositions were gradually built up, only to be stripped back down again in a very painterly process, to reveal new forms, combinations, and colors. For fans of The Cinematic Orchestra, Tortoise, Steve Reich, and Phillip Glass.