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Across Many Oceans confirms Sheldon Sands' growing reputation as a
brilliant "sound painter"- a distinctive and daring creator of contemporary instrumental music. On Across Many Oceans Sands dips his creative brush into a rich palette of world music influences and, with a superb cast of collaborating
musicans, creates a series of extraordinary paintings- each a unique creation, together a masterful cohesion of musical
polyethnicity.
Along with the fine keyboards and samples of Sheldon Sands, the record includes strong contributions by the noted Celtic group Colcannon, Silver Wave recording artists Ty Burhoe
(tabla) and Mark Miller (flute, sax), Elizabeth Hardin (oboe), Jesse Manno (bouzouki), Deen Peer (bass), Beth Quist (vocals), Marty Peters (guitar), and guest contributions on didgeridoo, uillean pipes, cello and timpani.
Evocative yet highly accessible, the initial response to Across Many Oceans has been tremendous. Superbly produced, this transparent recording brilliantly cuts across folk, world, jazz, and ambient genres.
Reviews
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"Delicate and endearing, cheerful and melodic, this top-quality production by Sheldon Sands is a colorful cornucopia of cultures and instrumentalists. If you'd like to go on a world cruise or it your heart just needs a gentle lift, give Across Many Oceans a whirl." -NAPRA ReVIEW
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"Denver/Boulder musicians successfully band together behind talented keyboardist-composer Sands on this light-hearted, eclectic journey of aural discovery that marvelously melds guitars, piano, oboe and strings with the exotic sounds of kalimba, wood flute, bouzouki and ethnic percussion. From the contemplative "Quiet Eyes" to the Celtic suite "Aire of the Lake/Northern Song", to the hot Latin sass of "Festival de Marilia," this record is pure ear candy!" -PJ Birosik
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"Great CD!" -Bill Douglas, Hearts of Space recording artist
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"Rather than a ragged hodgepodge of "wannabe" world music, this release comes across as a solid cohesion of musical polyethnicity, a melodic journey through many cultures, often simutaneously. This predominantly instrumental album offers a blend of synthsized samples and live instruments. The synth is often a mere backdrop, the pastel canvas upon which the instruments stroke their living melodies, an effect which provides a wonderful multi-layered and textured feeling.
This collection is upbeat overall, from a theatrical/dance piece to a pseudo-samba and an "east-meets-west" mildly mystical selection entitled 'Half Moon', a piece which evokes an unknown memory of forgotton future. A favorite is 'Quiet Eyes', a very moving song, slow and full of emotion, thanks to the lyrical oboe. It is a song for exploring the depths of a love, or for seeing through to the other side of a loss.
From pure Celtic fiddle to the cross-cultural instrument blend of the bolero-esque 'Across Many Oceans', this album is enjoyable from beginning to end, suitable for many moods and occasions." -Steven Baird, HEARTSONG REVIEW
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"Cool!" -Evan Fairmont, age 8
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"After listening and being joyously fed by your music, I am moved to write you. Congratulations! You've created a beautiful piece of work, lyrical, deep, a healing balm. I truly look forward to using your magic in my work with dancers." -Melissa Michaels
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"We run a music programme during the day with minimal advertising and a mix of music that has lately included Sheldon's CD (Across Many Oceans). We have received a lot of calls asking after various tracks off Sheldon's album and asking where it can be purchased. It is interesting to note that there is a real response to some artists more than others. The response to Sheldon has been similar to that of Enya, Deep Forest, Loreena McKennit. Not "New Age" or "Ambient" but sort of ethnic/world/dance/Gaelic. Our listeners really like this sort of music and are active enough to call and find out about it." -Plains FM 98.9, Christchurch, New Zealand
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