Listen: Cosmo Sheldrake - "Mind Of Rocks" ft Bunty

photo by Simon Wolf

While English singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist and producer Cosmo Sheldrake's previous releases "The Moss" 7", and his debut EP Pelicans We have established Sheldrake as an exceptionally talented songwriter, producer, and musician, "Come Along", the first single from Sheldrake's upcoming debut full length record The Much Much How How and I, displayed an ability to balance subtle minimalism but also incredible pop maximalism that was enough to get me properly excited for Sheldrake's full length debut and second single "Mind Of Rocks" continues to demonstrate Sheldrake as an incredibly versatile creator as well as upend all expectations of what to expect on the upcoming full length.

Despite the lack of Sheldrake's own vocals in favor of the heavily featured Brighton based artist Bunty, "Mind of Rocks" continues to weave Sheldrake's intricate production with his ever curious use of field recordings. Panamanian bats, a Scottish gale, and one of Sheldrake's beat-boxing lessons is but a few of the sounds he builds the track on. While Sheldrake hasn't shied away from being non-featured on vocals before - see "Rich" from Pelicans We which featured Andreyah Vargas, a friend of Sheldrake's, the different in the two tunes lays in the fact that the vocals in "Rich" still largely depended on Sheldrake's skillful deployment of Vargas' pre-recorded vocal samples. The result was a sort of chopped up effect that fit perfectly with the cacophonous bolder smashing Sheldrake utilized as the backbone beat of the track. "Mind Of Rocks" sees Sheldrake giving up some of the control for Bunty's more svelte, freer vocal performance. It's a track that relegates Sheldrake almost entirely to a producer role which he's proven exceptionally gifted at so far. Even as he brings in veteran composer/producer and fellow field recording enthusiast Matthew Herbert as co-producer.

And yet, there's no denying "Mind Of Rocks" is far less lush and complicatedly layered than some of Sheldrake's previous efforts - especially the multitudinous first single "Come Along" from his upcoming full length debut. But sparse - or sparser than he's been recently is refreshing and definitely provides an effective showcase of Bunty's vocals.



Cosmo Sheldrake's debut full length The Much Much How How and I is out April 6th on Trangressive with pre-order available now.