-=- SHGZ -=-
* Shoegaze * Indie * Post-Rock * Grunge * Dream Pop * Psych-Rock * Ethereal *
ARTIST..: Ride
ALBUM...: Clouds In The Mirror (This Is Not A Safe Place Reimagined By PΩtr AleksΣnder)
GENRE...: Electronic
STYLE...: Classical, Modern, Downtempo, Shoegaze
YEAR....: 2020
LABEL...: Wichita
CATALOG.: WEBB584CD
COUNTRY.: UK
PLACE...: Oxford
ENCODER.: FLAC 1.3.1 -8 -V
BITRATE.: 803 kbps avg
QUALITY.: 44.1kHz / 2 channels
SOURCE..: CD
TRACKS..: 12
SIZE....: 215.28 MB
URL..: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ride_%28band%29
- TRACKLIST
1 R.I.D.E. 1:57
2 Future Love 3:05
3 Repetition 3:25
4 Kill Switch 1:59
5 Clouds Of Saint Marie 3:11
6 Eternal Recurrence 3:20
7 Fifteen Minutes 2:31
8 Jump Jet 3:16
9 Dial Up 3:54
10 End Game 3:24
11 Shadows Behind The Sun 3:07
12 In This Room 3:47
Total Playtime: 36:56
https://rideox4.bandcamp.com/album/clouds-in-the-mirror-this-is-not-a-safe-place-reimagined-by-p-tr-aleks-nder
https://wichitarecordings.11spot.com/clouds-in-the-mirror-this-is-not-a-safe-place-reimagined-by-petr-aleksander.html
*
On Clouds In The Mirror, neo-classical duo PΩtr AleksΣnder have entirely
re-imagined the tracks as beautiful, beatless exercises in strings and synths
with only Mark Gardener's vocals remaining.
*
Indie super-duo petr aleksander turn their lush piano and string arrangements
to the indelible vocal tracks of ride's sensational 'this is not a safe
place' record and the results are nigh on heavenly.
This ambient project comprises the multi-instrumental talents of noah & the
whale's tom hobden and producer eliot james (who produced natw's debut album)
at the controls. The london pair stripped the songs back to just the vocals
and added their customarily beautiful string arrangements, keys and synth
textures beneath them. This takes Ride deep into the neo-classical / ambient
territory that a couple of the remixes of their previous album hinted at and
will appeal to fans of those musical styles, as well as those who consider
themselves a part of the band's die-hard fanbase. Fans of erland cooper,
efterklang and slowdive should slip this in their lugholes.
*
There's been a glut of 90s guitar bands reforming in recent years, most, if
not quite all, of whom seem happy to wallow in the reflected glory of their
past rather than strike out with something new.
Ride, like a few others (see also Pixies), have had the balls to follow their
big reformation shows with serious amounts of new material, dropping the
Weather Diaries album in 2017 and This Is Not A Safe Place last year.
The decision to collaborate on a classical re-imagining of their last LP,
however, must rank as their bravest and most unexpected move yet. Bringing
the duo PΩtr AleksΣnder on board after hearing their widely acclaimed Closer,
Still album, they handed the violinist and piano player the vocal tracks and
invited them to build a whole new musical landscape around them.
PΩtr AleksΣnder might not be a household name but their members do have some
pretty notable previous. One half is Tom Hobden of Noah and the Whale and
the other Two Door Cinema Club producer Eliot James. But a quick dip into
Clouds In The Mirror reveals something very different to either of those
acts, and indeed very different to Ride too.
The ultra-fragile tinkling of opening track 'R.I.D.E.' show us that we're in
for something that exists on the experimental edges of classical music, too,
rather than some literal transposition into orchestral form. The mountain
stream pure vocals of Mark Gardner make their first appearance on 'Future
Love', oozing all over an understated downbeat pulse and strings moving in
and out of focus, a heart-tugging tribute to the original song. 'Repetition'
employs more formal, chamber strings before giving way to a glitchy, scratchy
hypnotism, while 'Kill Switch' offers us a processed, effects-laden vocal
contrasting with an intimately recorded piano part.
Some moments here, like the stirring stringfest 'Clouds of Saint Marie' or
the minor-to-major key fireworks of 'Jump Jet', are gob smacking in a matter
of seconds. Others take a little longer to unveil themselves, like the
gradually uncoiling 'Dial Up' or 'In This Room' with its Beach Boys-esque
mixture of almost indivisible melancholy and joyfulness.
All in all, then, this is a brave and unexpected move, yes, but one that they
pull off in spectacular style. Ride on.
*
In August 2019, UK band Ride (whose 1990 debut, Nowhere, has long been viewed
as a shoegaze classic) released This Is Not a Safe Place, their second album
since they reformed in 2014. The record was rightly acclaimed for its shrewd
blend of 1960s garage/psych, 1990s guitar pop and smartly integrated Laurel
Canyon harmonies.
Clouds in the Mirror is the same-but-different album, a work of seamless
exploration that employs as its foundations the main vocals (by Mark Gardener
and Andy Bell) of the original album tracks and invests them with
neo-classical string, piano and synthesiser arrangements.
The people in charge of such treatments are Eliot James (producer for, among
others, Two Door Cinema Club, Kaiser Chiefs, Plan B) and Tom Hobden (of the
group Noah and the Whale). Under the moniker of PΩtr AleksΣnder, James and
Hobden have reinterpreted the songs by mostly focusing on whatever emotional
sensibilities the vocals generate.
The overall result is a mash-up-made-in-heaven for fans of supremely
harmonious electronica and hints of pop-psych, neither of which are undone by
the featured voice excerpts. Indeed, tracks such as Clouds of Saint Marie,
Shadows Behind the Sun, Repetition and the Friedrich Nietzsche-referencing
Eternal Recurrence prove how satisfying such experiments can be.
Perhaps even better news? For the full ambient experience, the album is also
released (digitally) as entirely instrumental.
-=- SHGZ -=-
P.S.
** Thanks ***
*** BCC FNT IPC SSR ***
*** For Knowing Where The Music Is At ***
*** Props to CaHeSo, awesome Asian Indie/Shoegaze ***
*** And to FANG/HOUND for supporting all the Indie lovers out there ***
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* NuHS we miss you! *
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