Stephen Scheidell has a lot going on in his mind. If you are fortunate enough to follow him on Facebook you’ll know this includes everything from philosophy and theological debates to an unmistakable dry wit. He also is a prolific composer, although most might be not be aware of this. He churns out several releases a year, and earlier this fall was his release of the contemplative Golden Silence, Silver Tongues.

While all of Scheidell’s releases have a distinct ambient vibe, his releases have been known to mesh everything from hip hop and metal to chill wave and electronica. This release leans toward the latter part of the spectrum, with some New Age vibes thrown in for the fun of it (there are shades of Enya from guest vocalists Janeen Scott and Julia Fey). I will not be doing a track by track commentary here because that would defeat the purpose of the record – every once in a while I come across an album that is best experienced on the listener’s own terms – untarnished by a rogue reviewer’s specific interpretation of individual songs.

That said, it would be sweeping the glaringly obvious under the rug to ignore the political undertone of the record. Rhymes of Scheidell’s good friend Mo Henderson (aka Freedom) offer commentary on the political climate surrounding the 2012 election, and the title track of the album offers sound bytes from both Romney and Obama for added flair. The majority of the record  has a repeating melodic theme, backed by the occasional rapped commentary, but toward the end the record becomes noticeable more tension-filled, being broken only by the instrumental version of the title track, inserted for those who might find the sound bytes wearisome after a while. This, really is the primary risk the record bears – the long length of the majority of the tracks may bore some after a while. It follows that Golden Silence, Silver Tongues is primarily for those who are willing to listen intelligently. That isn’t to say there couldn’t be other purposes – the record is as beautiful as it is thought provoking.

Score: 4/5

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