This month Blue Glass returned with his third LP, Jardin des Étoiles. The work of Seattle musician Michael Shunk, the newest album marks a departure in his quickly growing oeuvre. While previous releases like Eleven Years and Pale Mirror found the multi-instrumentalist/vocalist/composer writing deeply moving songs centered around urbane melody and a poetic lyrical style, Jardin des Étoiles is an ambient album created and recorded chiefly using analog synths.
Though the approach may differ here, a striking similarity in style can still be heard across these various works. The musician’s patient attention to sonic detail is always a hallmark of his efforts. On Shunk’s more song-oriented releases, this comes across in the instrumentation chosen and a sophisticated sense for melody and vocals. Everything fits in its place on standout tracks like “We Loved the Rain” or “Take Me Back To Berlin,” and in that way, the songs feel like “uncluttered rooms” filled with pertinent but personal detail. On Jardin des Étoiles, though, that awareness paid to instrumentation and sound finds him pursuing a new route.
While both Eleven Years and Pale Mirror were studio-recorded albums with Shunk playing most of the instruments except for drums, 2020’s quarantine meant he had to record at home in his garage. As a result, he turned to two analog synths in his collection, the Roland RS-505 and Roland Juno 60, for the bulk of this self-recording. The result is an ambient album, often spacious and seeming to exist in a liminal dreamland, even if at times marked by what might be considered quarantine angst.
Across Jardin des Étoiles, Shunk’s careful observation of sonic detail, tone, and melody links this most recent effort to his previous albums, making for a body of work that is often shrouded in deep blue clouds that yield a fertile rain due to the musician’s tireless creative efforts. Matching the quiet introspection of his first two albums with a solemn but engaged regard for these unprecedented times, the musician’s resourceful and adaptive approach finds him more than willing to expand in new directions. Whether Jardin des Étoiles marks a more ambient approach for the artist or not is yet to be seen, but his attention to sound and melody, as well as his elegant style, will still prevail.
