No Turn Before The Shoreline is definitely an interesting album, as each song is mainly instrumental and composed of random noises looped together and backing each other. William Flynn, the multi-instrumentalist known as Sleepers Work, has been collecting noises for years, and has taken them from his own library to create his debut. He intended to make an honest release reflecting a musical state of truth.
The opening track, “Dawn And The Moon,” is about the emotions an insomniac feels on a particularly sleepless night. It consists of relaxing sounds with a sudden stop of the music every couple of seconds, meant to show how anxiety-stricken an insomniac becomes at sunrise. “Perdu Pourrait” is a song with the haunting French phrase, “Mais quelque chose est oublié,” repeated over and over again, supplemented by other French words and collected noises. When translated, it means “but something is forgotten.” The closer, “Through The Window,” is a nod to the life of Flynn’s grandparents and how different it must have been to grow up in the earlier parts of the 20th century. The song sounds both modern and vintage at the same time, and changes its path very often.
Sleepers Work has created a very experimental record, and has definitely put a lot of work into each cut. The melodies sound like they come from many places, and they have. His sister’s demos, pieces of tracks he has engineered or played on, and field recordings are all components of the release. While it is definitely not something to sing along or rock out to, No Turn Before The Shoreline is certainly fascinating.
In A Word: Otherworldly
