The drone that is Gavin John Sheehan‘s Shell of the Curved Centennial begins like nothing so much as the sound of a speaker attached to a stereo system that is not fully grounded. There is that low level buzz, less like a headache than a stray but insistent thought. It’s the electrical-audio equivalent of a breeze or, depending on one’s mood, a smell. What follows that opening drone, which quickly rises in volume, can be heard as a variety of things — as a down-the-rabbit-hole voyage into its dense drone-ness, or as a carefully delineated composition that explores the initial drone’s pulse and tone. One needn’t make an immediate decision — just listen as secondary and tertiary sounds make their appearance, slowly shaping the initial drone into an organ-like musical instrument. Pulses become beats, layers suggest harmonies, and gentle beading turns into an internal variety akin to some nanoscale chamber ensemble (MP3).
More details at the releasing netlabel, notype.com.