Western Skies Motel – Trails

It’s been a while since I last heard a new record by Western Skies Motel, and the minimalist yet sparse and narrative-driven music Danish multi-instrumentalist René Gonzalez Schelbeck has been releasing for over a decade on labels like Preserved Sound, Lost Tribe Sound, and Twice Removed, among others. Inspired by American folk music but allowing himself to reach deep, more meditative, and at times brooding territories, Western Skies Motel has finally broken the silence with probably his most refined and touching record so far.

Trails was released on March 7, 2025, on a double 12″ LP, and spans over 12 instrumental pieces that burn as slow and hypnotizing as the embers in a campfire. Western Skies Motel has never been a project of many tools or crazy experimental production tricks; on the contrary. Its beauty has always lain in the concise and beautifully written music where every bit tells a part of the whole story while sitting in its rightful place. Schelbeck’s tools of the trade are guitars, both acoustic and electric, warm synth drones, the occasional piano, and delicate tape manipulations. While this palette suggests music that leans more into the atmospheric and ambient spectrum, ‘Trails’ is a record that demands your attention, that fully blooms when you surrender to its weight and power. Right after I heard the first guitar licks of “Road” majestically unfolding and welcoming not only me, the fellow traveler, but the violin of Nils Gröndahl (Under Byen), who lent his sound also to “Lullaby” and the closing “Coda,” I had no other choice but to let this album consume me.

Yes, René Gonzalez Schelbeck is not alone on Trails. Drums and percussion on “Stranded,” “All Is Gone,” and “Fountain” and “Black Desert” were played by Jakob Høyer, who also produced the record. With him on drums and Jens Hein, who plays bass on all of those tracks except for “Fountain,” Western Skies Motel achieves some of the most touching and visual pieces in his catalog. The calmer pieces lead to this stripped-down yet full-band vibe in a drifting but heavy-weight take on Americana; that’s music straight up made to grab you and take you places. It’s tough for me to pinpoint any highlights on the record because it’s constructed in a way that no track can exist without the other. No matter if we’re talking about the fragile tape loops of “Coda” or the mesmerizing “Nightfall” with Julia Kent’s guest appearance on cello, it’s all part of the journey; it’s all precious moments captured in music that Western Skies Motel has been kind enough to share with us.

Trails is a lesson of musical storytelling. It’s a moving and emotional ride from start to end. Do yourselves a favor and experience it. Currently, there’s no Bandcamp link we can share, but plenty of good record stores are carrying the album, and I promise you, while you’re standing there, next to your record player turning the vinyl on the other side, the music of Western Skies Motel will still be echoing in your mind and inviting you to keep listening.