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█░ █
█ █ P U B L I C . S O U N D
█ █
█ █ presenting our latest release
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r e l e a s e . i n f o
Artist.....: Mirror
Title......: Still Valley
Rip Date...: Mar-18-2007 Cat.No.....: DS87
Style......: Ambient Label......: Die Stadt
Quality....: VBRkbps Type.......: Album
Size.......: 61,5 MB Source.....: CDDA
r e l e a s e . n o t e s
Re-release of vinyl (DS78) incl. one extra track. Edition of 1000
copies in die-cut cover similar to the LP version.
"Earlier this year, Christoph Heeman and Andrew Chalk parted ways,
effectively ending the steady stream of objet d'arts /
impressionist soundscapes the two produced as Mirror. Still Valley
is one of the final Mirror documents, which found Heeman and Chalk
working with occasional member Jim O'Rourke. It was orginally
released on vinyl earlier in 2005, but like all of the Mirror LPs,
Still Valley quickly went out of print and is probably fetching
very high prices on eBay. Now that it has received a proper CD
reissue, Still Valley features a lengthy bonus track to make it
well worth the investment for those who got the LP to also get the
CD. In comparing Still Valley to recent post-Mirror output by
Andrew Chalk, it appears that Still Valley is more closely aligned
to his aesthetic than of those by either Heeman or O'Rourke. As on
his breathtaking Sumac collaboration with Jonathan Coleclough and
the flawless The River That Flows Into The Sand, Chalk's whispered
minimalism exhibits the ability to stop time; and Mirror does just
that in this aural mirage of tonefloat shimmer, delicate
whistlings, and reverse-engineered drones. Limited to 1000 copies,
which may translate to this sticking around for a little bit
longer; but that does not change the fact that Still Valley is
absolutely gorgeous."
www.aquariusrecords.org
"Regardless of our editorial comments, Still Valley -- whether on
CD or on LP -- is an outstanding Mirror record,perhaps not as
breathtaking as Eye Of The Storm, but easily one of the best the
ensemble has produced. The album is centered upon steady repeating
forms of tumbling glassine drones while miniature electric
glissandos spiral in the distance. As good as Mirror's recordings
work as immersive ambience, filling any room with a spellbinding
presence; there's a considerable amount of detailing in the album
that warrants a listen or two on headphones, something we don't
often recommend at the Agency. Of course, the CD is also a limited
edition production. So don't expect this to last very long."
www.helenscarsdale.com
"Using sound to represent a landscape has long been an extremely
pervasive methodology in both experimental and new age music.
Everything from the organic repetition and decay of nature to the
claustrophobic abrasiveness of the city are frequently explored in
depth, pitting the seemingly permanent, concrete aspects of our
environment against the innately temporal and illusory functions
of sound. While you can listen to a piece of recorded music an
endless number of times, it is always incapable of infinity, the
envisioned "landscape" always fades away, often only lasting 20
minutes.
Mirror's new album, Still Valley, continues in their imagistic
approach to music; past environs have included a mirror factory
nestled far in a resonant swamp, a "sleepy coastal town" (to quote
Aquarius Records) present on Eye of the Storm, and the slow murky
descent on the self-explanatory Viking Burial for a Dead French
Car. But Still Valley takes this painterly approach further,
opting to take the idea of an ambient and shifting landscape and
completely halt it. Still Valley is a photograph of paralyzed
landscape, rather than a direct representation.
The package artwork, always an important factor in Mirror's music,
is a green sleeve with a cut-out silhouette of a cat, revealing an
inner sleeve with a full-sized photograph. Depending on which side
of the sleeve is faced outward, a different image is framed. One
photo is a close-up of a church bell tower and the other is
possibly the same bell tower from farther away, among other houses
in the valley. Of course, whether or not it is the identical tower
becomes obscured, a reminder of the great difference between the
sound of a bell from up close or from far away. The close-up
picture has caught a blur of a bird in mid-flight, underlying the
frozen approach of the music. While Mirror is austere to begin
with, Still Valley is an increased reduction, determined to reach
a goal of making time stand still.
The palette of sounds is slightly brasher than on some past
releases. There isn't an overwhelming sheath of reverb or any
apparent field recordings to create spatial illusion. Rather,
there is the overtone drift of Andrew Chalk's guitar, gliding
harmonic drones, and the most active aspect: slow oscillator
glissandos, rising and falling from the bottom to the top of the
audio spectrum. These glissandos are essentially the main movement
of the three pieces here, giving a sense that the landscape is
being surveyed and scanned.
Unfortunately and perhaps intentionally, the music here doesn't
seem to transcend the group dynamic as it does on many other
Mirror albums. The sounds are more familiar and feel safer than
they have been in the past. Where many of their prior releases
contain quite a bit of mystery and displacement, Still Valley is
somewhat fittingly stagnant, never quite reaching hallucinatory
extremes, never quite seeming truly immersive, and ultimately
coming across as more notable for its concept rather than its
execution."
By Matt Wellins www.dustedmagazine.com
http://brainwashed.com/mirror
p l a y l i s t
01 Part one 19:04
02 Part two 09:24
03 Part three 19:24
47:52 min
g r e e t i n g s
agw - amok - bass - bcc - bex - boss - cmg - cmc - cms - d2h
def - dh - disc0 - drum - emp - ftd - fwyh - gem - i8 - ipc
jce - jfk - jrp - just - khz - kinky - kw - lame - maem - mbs
mgc - psycz - r2r - rac - radial - rapid - rks - rtb - sb
sever - sfe - soup - sour - sq - tr - trt - ube - uc - upe
uki - xtc - yard - zi
respect to music lovers worldwide
never forget : go to the show. buy the t-shirt. order the vinyl