I imagine that when I die, this will be the soundtrack of the afterlife. With ambient passages that, in my humble opinion, give the likes of Brian Eno a run for his money, Shibb’s heavenstretches is among the few true ambient albums that captivates me from front to back. The opening track “the seashell’s center” is a haunting, mellow suite that sets the tone for what is to come.
The following track (Booyah!!!) is the sound of what I can only describe as being alone in a large crowd. It’s reminiscent of my junior prom, at which I spent half of my time sitting in a quiet corner trying my damndest to keep composure.
The two tracks after, the great archer in the sky and forever savior continue this lovely feeling of aloneness that only the best of ambient records can give. In all honesty, I think that the two could have gone well as two parts of the same track, but they work well as two distinct tracks.
Then comes the record’s title track; heavenstretches (it meant something to you). At an imposing runtime of nearly 26 minutes, it makes up the bulk of the albums material. And rightfully so, as this song is the best piece on the record, and one of my personal favorite ambient pieces in general. Something about the track’s distorted grit speaks to me on some subconscious level. The spoken word sample(?) towards the back half of the track adds a second emotional layer, digging up feelings that frankly, I shouldn’t have buried in the first place. A beautiful message for a phenomenal track that made me tear up on a level I haven’t since the first time I listened to Radiohead’s Let Down.
The album then closes on a droning, low-end heavy suite that is the cherry on top of this surprisingly emotional sundae. Despite not speaking Spanish myself, the sample I can feel the emotion in what I assume is a voicemail playing underneath the track’s bassy drone.
If you were to ask me, Shibb outdid himself when making this album. Every track is able to capture feeling incredibly well, going into emotional depths I haven’t gotten out of ambient music in a long while.