Rhian Sheehan - Stories From Elsewhere

A series of enchanting instrumental works, Stories From Elsewhere is Rhian Sheehan’s most evocative album to date - an excursion into a soundscape of tender ethereal textures, brooding cinematic string arrangements, and playful experimental lullabies. Sheehan has encapsulated a world of serenity and melancholia within this 12-track album. Stories From Elsewhere is a musical landscape to get lost in.

His first full-length album since Standing in Silence (2009), Sheehan transgresses Ambient and Post-Rock genres and moves deeper into a unique world of haunting atmospheres, reflective ambient electric guitar washes, childlike melodies, and stirring moments of elation.

Principally conceived by Sheehan in his Wellington, New Zealand based home studio; his strong sense of vision for the album’s live representation informed key collaborations, which are bound to extend to the performance of Stories From Elsewhere. Contributing artists included: Jeff Boyle (Jakob), Raashi Malik (Rhombus), Andy Hummel (Rosy Tin Teacaddy), Steve Bremner (The Adults), Ryan Prebble (The Nudge), and string players from the NZSO. Sheehan also enlisted the talents of Lee Prebble to help him put finishing touches on the album.

Sheehan describes how some of the music from the album came about:

“The album as a whole came about via experimentation. I’ve been moving further away from computer made electronica over the last few years and tinkering away in my home studio with old children’s musical toys and gadgets I’ve collected over the years, working out ways to make interesting and unusual sounds. I mixed half of the album with Lee Prebble, which was good fun. We ran the drums and strings through an old 60’s plate reverb to get a more nostalgic atmospheric tone. Most of the textures on this album were made with electric guitars and vocals run through various outboard effects. I wanted to make an album that sounded very natural and organic - a collection of sonic stories that hopefully will be listened to as one body of work.”

1. Sileo, 2. The Upper Sky, 3. La Boite a Musique, 4. Little Sines, 5. Nocturne 1985, 6. Creation Myths, 7. A Thimble Full of Sorrow, 8. Nusquam, 9. Imber, 10. Thoughts on Nature, 11. Somnus, 12. Lullaby Machine