Mirroring by Strange Mountain

Most of these tracks utilized a simple recorder (I used in junior high school years ago, circa 1992-1993). Certain sections were then cut the edited together than processed - lengthened, shortened, and looped. Sections parallel against each other. Natural reverb + BOSS DD3 + TCM-600DV mini tape. Released through Illuminated Paths.

PSI LAB - MIRRORING finds SM branching out from his established sound - there's a new-found ambitious melodic intricacy to his always gorgeous synth work, bolstered with meticulous f/x and found sounds, and even a piano motif or two - meanwhile the lo fi styling of earlier works has been marginalized in favor of a more classic ambient framework in a higher fidelity environment, reducing the degrees of separation from stuff like FRIPP & ENO, RILEY and BLADE RUNNER (watch out for the right-out-of-the-gate jaw-dropper "no more shall it shed android tears") while refracting downtempo rhythm elements on a couple of tracks kinda like APHEX TWIN informed reinterpretations of ANOTHER GREEN WORLD and TANGERINE DREAM's RICOCHET

the more dramatic heart-rending affect of previous works is not as prominent, as his focus seems more on sculpting sound than eliciting emotion - there's still plenty emotion but it's not saturated like my favorites GOLDEN DUST and SHADOW OF THE METROPOLIS - he's exploring new ways and means, and experimenting with them, playfully at times, perhaps taking a cue from LOST TRAIL when they crossed paths on their stellar split / remix double cassette (REC #49) - likewise i can see SM continuing in the same fashion as LT, perpetually proliferating his now multifaceted sound on an always-the-same-always-different trajectory, or perhaps he is poised to break out beyond the weirdo cassette blogosphere with a full length vinyl debut of deep house genre blending - i don't know, i'm just speculating, but who knows especially with a guy like this who's a member of numerous divergent bands - in any case i am intrigued - all that said, for my money, the tantalizingly brief "structure" is what SM does best, and i'll never not need more of that

highly recommended

Tracklist

1.	No More Shall It Shed (Android Tears)	6:03

2.	Blackbody Radiate	1:23

3.	Birth	6:10

4.	Details From Processed Recorder 1	5:56

5.	Details From Processed Recorder 2	2:36

6.	Sad Loop	3:46

7.	Mirroring	2:33

8.	Brutalist, 1991	3:40

9.	Structure 1	1:34

10.	Sunrising (Physique Quantique)	8:41

Credits

released May 12, 2016

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