Loneward - Musings of a Painted Sky

Released: November 10

Musings of a Painted Sky, the latest album from Loneward, is a rather sweet and sour ambient experience. I say this because while the majority of what we are presented with is lush and harmonious, Loneward also craftily put these lovely little sour moments in there as well that alter the dynamic and depth of the album. The opening track, “Crimson Canvas,” takes its time in building this up as it starts with light yet think pads that billow up slowly until they are joined by a bright and shimmering plucked instrument elevates the sound out of drone territory. But for all this brightness and shimmer, the following track “Forlorn Shadows from Neglected Sunsets” takes the energy back into less sentimental territory. It still has that shimmer to an extent, but it brings a muted tone to everything with its downcast tone. 

For the entire album, Loneward plays with these two modes. It almost comes across as a light versus dark dynamic in someway, like we’re being shown a sky in full color and all possible states at once as a sunset melds into a high noon blue sky only to the morph back to the early morning sunrise once again like a day compressed and rewound. We get more of this back and forth with the next several songs including the ascendant “Dream Palette” and the wispy muted “Shrouded Sighs.” But the final and longest track, “The Final Hours,” takes the sunset motif to a beautiful excess with shimmering drones that rise and fall with intense crescendos that embody the intensity of those last rays of sunshine before the sun disappears over the hill. A wonderfully painted sky indeed.