{"id":122532,"date":"2025-03-09T17:21:54","date_gmt":"2025-03-09T17:21:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/ambient-music\/trails-by-western-skies-motel-stationary-travels\/"},"modified":"2025-03-09T17:21:54","modified_gmt":"2025-03-09T17:21:54","slug":"trails-by-western-skies-motel-stationary-travels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=122532","title":{"rendered":"Trails by Western Skies Motel \u2013 Stationary Travels"},"content":{"rendered":"


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It has been a little over nine years since I had the pleasure of premiering a piece of music from Western Skies Motel<\/strong>, the instrumental solo project of Danish musician Ren\u00e9 Gonzalez Schelbeck<\/strong>. It was a splendidly atmospheric acoustic piece called \u201cFalling Leaves\u201d<\/a> from Settlers<\/em><\/strong> (2016) which turned out to be Schelbeck\u2019s last full-length outing until the appearance this month of Trails<\/em><\/strong>, a record which finds him in deep reflection upon the toll the journey through the intervening years has taken on both himself and the album\u2019s protagonists. <\/p>\n

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\u201cSettlers\u201d was a portrait of the American settlers around the turn of the century, of them leaving all they knew behind in search of a better life. It was a depiction of the meeting with a new and bigger nature and the dependency of that nature, the planting of a seed. On \u201cTrails\u201d we\u2019re following in the footsteps of those immigrants with the distance of the years gone by. In doing so we\u2019re following the trail of ourselves, revisiting our own dreams and hopes. The broken dreams, the loneliness, getting lost in the impending darkness of the coming night\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Vivid, filmic, and occasionally bleak, Trails <\/em><\/strong>is a collection of songs which Schelbeck poignantly sums up as \u201ca lone walk in a fading world\u201d. The self-produced album was primarily recorded in Copenhagen with Jakob H\u00f8yer <\/strong>who engineered and mixed the record and played\u00a0drums on a couple of tracks. Ren\u00e9 played most of the instruments himself \u2013 electric and acoustic guitars, synths, tape manipulations, and a bit of piano \u2013 with additional parts being performed by Julia Kent <\/strong>(cello), Nils Gr\u00f6ndahl<\/strong> (violin) and Jens Hein <\/strong>(bass).<\/p>\n

There is a stark minimalism to the music on Trails<\/em><\/strong> \u2013 indeed Schelbeck plainly states that he prefers simplicity \u2013 but there is an evocative, brooding mystique as well which is quite captivating. Alternate tunings, experimental techniques, and bold strokes of tonal and textural color create a gripping narrative. And although Trails<\/em><\/strong> lingers less on the florid beauty of Settlers<\/em><\/strong>, there are still some stand out moments of acoustic wizardry such as on \u201cFountain\u201d, \u201cLullaby\u201d, and \u201cCaravan\u201d. While at times, the album is a lamentation for what has been, and may still be, lost, it is also a testament to the truth that, as stated in Ren\u00e9\u2019s own words, there is \u201cstill beauty to be found.\u201d<\/p>\n

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