It's no surprise that with the flood of guitar-based garagey music hitting the collective digital airwaves, when a recorded project of ambient, experimental songs come out, it feels ike a calm, cool rain to wash all the angst away. This ambient project from Brooklyn's Mike Sheffield is a beautiful, succinct effort that doesn't feel over-the-top or difficult to enjoy; it's wide and captivating and tonally large. In listening to the White Floods EP, you'll find that a lot of its elements feel improvised and organic, but not random by any means. We had a chance to get some words from Sheffield, which you can read before the embed. Isn't Ours has two shows coming up in the Brooklyn area, for which details are listed at the end.
How did this project begin?
It's a solo project so there's no real interesting origin story. I've always been drawn to this sort of music. I live at the Silent Barn, and living in a place where avant garde and experimental musicians play for very small audiences every night sort of empowered me to want to experiment more, to make something highly personal.
What's the inspiration behind the songs/vibes of the songs?
It's pretty open-ended. Exploring the sounds that seem relevant to me in my soul searching, regardless of if they sound confused or harsh or airy. The new songs I've written since I've recorded are already pretty different. It should be changing, there should be chance involved, it should all be temporary.
What is a live Isn't Ours show like?
They have all been pretty different. I'm very fond of playing in front of no one, or opening shows as people just start arriving. I like playing duets. I've been told they have been very loud so far.
Any plans for future releases?
To self-release White Floods as a tape with a companion book of poetry. To record another tape later this month of new songs.
June
25 Duet with Trevor Peterson at Silent Barn
July
16 at Silent Barn
