Music Review // Tyler Ramsey & Carl Broemel "Celestun"

https://tylerramseycarlbroemel.bandcamp.com/album/celestun

This collaboration between Tyler Ramsey and Carl Broemel is quite beautiful and in a world where everything is designed to be fast paced and at our fingertips, I like to think of this as being that gentle reminder to slow down, take a look around and just enjoy life.  "Celestun" begins with acoustics and an almost country-like folk sound, but it just fun like having the sun shine on you when you just get out of the ocean and want to dry off.

By the third song, "Nevermind", there are vocals to break up the otherwise instrumental album- up until that point any way.  "Flying Things" also has vocals, with backing vocals by The Secret Sisters, while the vocals also return a third time for a cover of Neil Young's "Sail Away".  This album just feels so peaceful it's not easy to dislike it, but it also must be played at times when your mind is able to wander so you can get a bit lost in it.

In some ways, I feel like some of these songs could be on the soundtrack to "Juno".  At the same time, there is just this instrumental quality- like on "Last Tarot" where the acoustics are strumming but there are electric, winding notes to go along with it.   The last song, "Sylvie's Guitar" can even feel like it's taking us more to a place of post rock, as we sort of drift away into space and time.

One of the lyrics which really sticks with me says: "This week is taking a year to go by / Why does it feel like a waste of time".  A lot of this album will give you something to think about.  Even if it's instrumental, you might find yourself lost in thought.  But it is strange, isn't it, how people have said even just the month of January 2026 has seemingly taken a year to go by, but even though that passage of time feels longer, the way in which we count down the hours in which we have to do things never feels quite the same.  So, again, put this one on for a bit of a pause.