Dale Sheppard, "She's Sowing Time" (Review)

Dale Sheppard, a musician from Victoria, British Columbia, did the thing most musicians aim for, which is to build a professional studio at home. Interestingly enough, a home-based studio was there when he needed it. Waste no time, back in 2020, Sheppard released one of his first tracks that paid tribute to country legend John Prine who died from complications of the Coronavirus. At the time, Dale's wife had written the lyrics to that song, "I Have To Believe" and provided backing vocals too. Following that, Sheppard channeled his taste for retro synth music into "It's Time to Get Up & Dance", a single which I noticed has a bit of Duran, Duran's "Save A Prayer" in it. It might have been accidental, but that song is such a hook that I've caught myself humming it accidentally, without recalling what it was.

Thus far, one song frames a traumatic period in our lives and the other asks when times are tough that we decompress. Dale could rest assured that he was making progress in writing about relevant things. This year, Dale released a new single, "She's Sowing Time", co-written with his wife, but this time, about it's about her.

"She's Sowing Time" is a song I composed from the poem my wife, Kim Sheppard, wrote during her journey with cancer. In the intro to this video, she writes... "It is the collision of terror and hope that are the force behind "She's sowing time". It is the terror that drives, but the hope that saves. That, and the love and strength of my husband who took my words and so brilliantly composed the music to create this song."

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Dale Sheppard, "She's Sowing Time" single

On the 9th of January 2022, Dale uploaded a track on Soundcloud with the initial idea that would result in the latest single. While the track is intentionally vague about the reason for the title, Dale does sing: "Were gonna sing, we're gonna dance, we're gonna see this through. Everything is gonna be alright."

In August of the same year, Dale would upload "She's Sowing Time" to further explain the story behind the track. While Dale covers most of the instruments, James Love adds lead Guitar, additional rhythm, Russ Ovans provides the additional keyboards and Nicola D'Adamo on drums.

This song starts off soaked in synth and pretty quickly, Dale comes in with the vocals and a beat for a song that could easily be off of anything off of David Bowie's post Earthling releases. He treats Kim's lyrics well with the pacing, showing that he's more than capable of building the right music around an established narrative. The pacing also matters in that the song leaves enough room for everyone's part. Some might wonder what the right time length is for a song, depending on what it's about. This is a great example of one.

The music video DOP, director, producer and editor, Ted Kuzemski, captures a great aesthetic that fits the song. Blurry shots a la Anton Corbijn, slow tracking and shots. Plus, we get to see what happens in the studio. Let us know what you think of the track and the video in the comments section!

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