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Album Details

• Artist: Wes Willenbring
• Album: Somewhere Someone Else
• Label: Hidden Shoal
• Year of Release: 2007
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: green_clash on 2007-02-27

Wes Willenbring is a San Francisco experimental songwriter and Somewhere Someone Else is his debut album off the indie label Hidden Shoal Recording. The songs reminisce of Dark Side-Era Pink Floyd and Kid A-Era Radiohead. Except the difference is that there are no vocals or drums. The fragmented instrument sections (guitar, bass, and piano) are connected together with studio effects. They blend together to put you in a tranquil mood. Unfortunately, this is all the album offers. Though these effects can create nice musical landscapes, it usually just feels shallow. The effect that is used in the opening song "Correspondence", which consists of this effect and a small bass part, is the same one used in the other nine songs. This effect does get annoying, but when Willenbring uses instruments, it brings some much needed variety to the table. "Lost Illusions" has overlapping guitars which do get a bit jumbled after the third guitar enters but it's a good song. And "In A Quiet Dark Room", which is a nice ambient piano piece that works well with the effects, is a good statement of Willenbring’s unique talents. Overall, Wes Willenbring shows that he's a talented songwriter but the songs come off a bit boring. The effects are overused and there's not much variety in the music. Hopefully he can develop his ideas further to create deeper songs next time around.

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