Shackleton & Waclaw Zimpel 'In the Cell of Dreams' LP

Following on from their critically acclaimed debut album, the second album from Shackleton / Zimpel represents the culmination of the ecstatic trance urge that has underlined both artists work since they embarked on their singular yet somehow parallel paths.

The duo, consisting of electronic music maverick Sam Shackleton and visionary avant folk virtuoso Waclaw Zimpel, sees them link up with one of Indian Carnatic music’s greatest emerging young vocal talents, Siddhartha Belmannu, to bring an album which is equal parts both a meditative exercise and an urge to transcendence whilst thematising both the acceptance of our mortality and the joyous celebration of living.

The artists’ intention behind the album was to make a piece of work that was beautiful, deep and moving and which engages with the listener in a direct and honest way. Avant and forward looking music which doesn’t rely on cynical gestures to keep attention or enhance its artistic credentials. Put more simply, it is intended to go straight to the heart.

The album consists of four long form tracks which eschew the traditional verse and chorus structure in favour of getting lost within the trance. There are musical cycles within musical cycles whilst diverse time signatures and phrases exist alongside each other in a manner that is in stark contrast to much of Western music tradition. Whilst this may seem demanding for the listener, the artistry of the musicians and Siddhartha’s beautiful and deeply moving vocal, for the most part in his native language Kannada, make for a sublime listening experience.