Porl Shaiman -- Gala's Shadow -- Selected Material 1995-99. [Last Sigh Magazine]

Track Listing

Track Release
1. Lillian -- "The Crooked Made Straight"
2. Bravado's Last Goodbye
3. Siren Sisters -- "The Crooked Made Straight"
4. Spangle -- "The Crooked Made Straight"
5. Arrows In Different Soil -- "A Buoy Painted White"
6. Heaven Angel -- "A Buoy Painted White"
7. Scarlet Bow -- "October's Cruel Night"
8. Seven Sailors Cry
9. Star (True Heart) -- "October's Cruel Night"
10. Boxing Night -- "The Crooked Made Straight"

"In the past 8 years, Paul has toured Australia extensively with various acts,
honing his vocal skills and started work on his first album titled
" October’s Cruel Night " which was recorded in various studios
over the past 4 years. The project was christened under the name
" Gala’s Shadow ". Paul’s second album is an ambient album titled
" The Crooked Made Straight".
His third album is a blending the best of both ambient and pop, titled
"A Buoy Painted White".
Porl Shaiman: Fretless/Fretted Bass, Guitar, Keyboards,
Programming, Chapman Stick, Vocals.
Influences: David Sylvian, Gary Numan, The Blue Nile, This Mortal Coil,
Brian Eno, Peter Gabriel, Talk Talk, Syd Barrett, Jaco Pastorius,
Not Drowning Waving, Ace Frehley, Jane Siberry."
-- Taken from Porl Shaiman Web

     Accomplished musician, writer/lyricist and vocalist Porl Shaiman of Australia was kind enough to send me a disc of selected tracks from his current three releases. With his many talents and influences, you can well imagine the dreamy and moody textures, lyrics and sounds that come from this artist. Tracks from "The Crooked Made Straight" are swirling ambient, expansive synthscapes, with a few *very* tasty mellow guitar riffs. It's quite relaxing and peaceful in terms of the warm feel and smooth synth blending in the music.
    The sounds on "A Buoy Painted White" also lean into ambient structure. They are more progressive and darker than those from his earlier works, with elements of drawn out mid-high pitch resonating synth in the background, flowing and winding melody, and gently evolving, (ancient) rhythm with chilling vocals, (Heaven Angel), very beautiful!
    Tracks on "October's Cruel Night", Porls first release, are more of an organic work with untreated vocals, a feel of soft jazz, drums, piano, guitar and romantic influence. A perfect CD for being in or out of love!
    If you are a fan of ambient works such as those artists on Fathom (Robert Rich), Hearts Of Space (Steve Roach) and Project Records (Vidna Obmana), or David Sylvian etc., I highly recommend giving the diverse music of Porl Shaiman a listen.