This is an album that speaks presciently to our moment, and it is one that I know I will be returning to as I wander out of the desert of this past year and look for ways to heal. Thank you, Jake, for this collection of hymns, these songs of adoration and prayer, in a time that sorely lacks both.

—Ryan Day, PhD

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Sounds of Americana and roots music melt together underneath the cloak of Jake’s guitar, which manages in these songs to find that corner of nostalgia which shelters hope.

Sonidos de raíces y americana se funden bajo el manto de la guitarra de Shane que encuentra ese punto de nostalgia en sus composiciones donde abriga la esperanza.

—Ruta 66 Magazine (reseña completa aquí: https://bit.ly/2IMoAFc)

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The opening chords of “The Lost Swimmer” are a marvel. They duck and dive and seem to playfully elude your expectations at every lilting step. A perfect invitation into a wistful meditation on the elusiveness of self-forgiveness. Jake’s guitar playing has become even more refined and subtle. There are some genuinely novel runs and flourishes in here. But it’s the overall effect of the song that endures, a westward journey that somehow salvages defiance in the face of seemingly growing futility. A timely declaration.

—Hugo Newman, PhD

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“The Lost Swimmer” induced a jealous rage in me towards Jake’s songwriting ability and guitar playing that I’ll never forgive him for. Every night I pray that somebody will stop this dreadful bastard from progressing beyond this point. Just when my 2020 couldn’t get any worse, my publicist tells me Sleepy Jake Shane’s songwriting has developed more sophisticated, rounded dynamics and deeper layers, his vocal delivery is more nuanced, his guitar playing is subtler and dreamier and his band is terrified of him. ‘What drugs is he taking?’, is the only question really worth asking yourself. Just before I fired my agent, I was told over a boozy lunch in Manhattan that one day this song, ‘The Lost Swimmer’, will be in a great museum like the Louvre or the American Museum of Natural History and more people will flock to listen to it than they do to see the Mona Lisa or the blue whale. As soon as I registered what was being said, I stared silently at my entremets and began an emergency pranayama. If this song is a masterpiece, as my staff inform me, then so be it. There will be no museums or phonographs in the future anyway. But, I sincerely wish Sleepy Jake Shane nothing but luck with his drug rehabilitation programme. Thank you for your time.

—Jack Dean, singer-songwriter

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High Desert Hymns is full of authentic storytelling and as you let it spell out you might find it resonant with all its hidden ellipsis between breaths and thoughts. colouring the nuances of high and low, in and out, raw and soft, until it makes you hum those unspoken truths circulating in your own heart.

(Bulgarian)

High Desert Hymns е пълен с автентични истории. с многоточия между вдъх-новения и мисли. нюансите му се разгръщат резониращо, докато не започнеш сам да изваждаш наяве и в  звук онези истини, които отдавна стоят скрити в сърцето.

—Kalina Ivanovna

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Con gran variedad de atmósferas, [High Desert Hymns] crea algo que en su totalidad tiene sentido. Hice un viaje de ocho canciones en el que sentí nostalgia, vi atardeceres y anocheceres, encontré miradas afines, presencié abrazos ajenos casi como si hubiera estado ahí yo también; me atravesaron la intimidad, la atracción, la infancia, la amistad, la inocencia, los llamados, los aullidos, la soledad.

—Lucía Nosiglia

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Jake Shane has mastered his craft of songwriting and taken his concept of the blues one step further with this record.

—Trey Russell