At only 27 years old, mike shannon’s dedicated efforts to the expansion of canada’s ever-blossoming electronic movement have been of the utmost significance. a founding member of the cynosure and revolver label imprints (their catalog includes seminal releases from fellow canadian techno luminaries akufen, deadbeat and pan/tone amongst others) and with his own releases on force inc., logistic, dumb-unit and mathew jonson’s wagon repair, 2006 has him poised to enlighten listeners as one of the most promising musicians to come up in the minimal techno and house community over this past half-decade. now, ~scape presents “possible conclusions to stories that never end”, where shannon explores a different side of his musical personality to present an inspired diversion from his dance floor minmal-techno esthetic. his second full length album, "possible conclusions to stories that never end” is a collection of imprints that have accrued from diverse stints over the past three years. plucking outlaw episodes in southwestern ontario, to regenisis in montreal, from wanderings in santiago, to musings in valencia, to field trips in tokyo-shannon has made landfall with his latest sonic mosaic. the album commences using field-recordings of a typhoon hitting the streets of tokyo, the listener is shunted into an environment where each song is the "conclusion" bathing the listener in a cinematic light with situational themes posited as individual soundtracks. on "taken only road" (featuring anais) mike shannon’s sparse sedate lounge manifestations of haunting lyrical form. anais's vocals, while entreating the listener, caresses as she wanders from sweet supplication to a silky lament over neon throbs of heady keys dappling over a languid bassline. atop the springy malleable groove of "last one terrified", spoken word elemental moral undulations catalogues the soul-stunting elements in north american culture with measured but casual defiance. with a grainy-hitched, stilted flow he rides shannon’s incitement for an end to the fear that wears the crown in the alleged democratic utopia. the lushness of the project is due to diversity of the personnel mike shannon has collaborated with. in addition to anais and moral undulations, toronto-based jazz drummer tim-stokes reese's smooth percussion ghosts and weaves through album, soft hits serving as a beacon points to the thick narcotic groove espoused on this fourteen track offering. in "tears" montreal musician patrick watson gently flays with piano ripple in time to reese’s drum patterns to make a resoundingly emotional result. the innocuous dread that underlies the albums skin is due to trace elements of influence from cinematic composer angelo badalamenti, as well as renown montreal electronic wizards marc leclair and deadbeat. the hues of these influences filter into shannon’s technique but the productions in the end have a sound signature truly of it’s own. the message becomes clear: as individuals we are naught but aggregates of past events, living hieroglyphs of personal history. ultimately the project is a paean to the deathless nature of all experience inside these stories...