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Review by Bill Binkelman grey mirrors (the work of Andy Condon, a.k.a. The Glimmer Room) is a rarity indeed - a long-form ambient/EM work that is not centered around drones or drawn-out soundscapes but instead evolves and morphs through various stages, including overt EM, retro European synth music, new age-like melodic keyboard music, floating ambient, electronica, and briefly flirts with environmental ambient. The integration of sound effects (e.g. birdsong, church bells, single-engine airplanes flying overhead) with the assorted musical sections turns this remarkable yet hard-to-describe achievement into something akin to a musical voyage through a maze of time and space, each "area" with its own appeal but lacking obvious cohesion. However, at the risk of sounding like I am contradicting myself, this lack of coherence works in the CD's favor, as it delightfully traipses from one end of a spectrum to another, throwing the listener into what can only be described as pleasant state of wonderment and pleasant confusion. EM and ambient fans who prefer their recordings easy to assimilate and with a high degree of continuity would be well advised that grey mirrors can be somewhat disorienting. For example, from the opening retro synth cascades that dance cheerfully amidst birdsong, the listener is next transported, via solemn echoed synth chorals, to a sacred cathedral where a ceremony of profound worship is underway. The majesty contained in this section of the recording has to be experienced to be appreciated; these are some of the most spiritual "feeling" choral effects I've ever heard. From this holy place, muted drum beats and electronic washes emerge and turn the music into a buzzing, whirring miasma of disturbing noir-ish ambient textures, encircling the listener like a huge cyber-anaconda, aglow with menacing circuitry; that is, until some airplanes come cruising overhead (they sound like Spitfires or P-51 Mustangs to my ears). Then the heavy drums are left to merge with the chorals which have now taken on an air of haunting mystery, as the drums and percussive effects sound like the labored exhalations of a large creature. Soaring analog keyboards, quavering and dipping over and around the other elements, cry our forlornly. [NOTE: At this point, we are only at the 1/3 mark of the forty-three minute long CD, folks!] Percolating synth notes, sparkling in the background, lighten the mood ever so subtly, aided by gentle birdsong and slowly the music loses its tension as the drums disappear and the soft tones take center stage along with solo chorals. There is lots more music I could detail, of course, as there are moments of contemporary electronica, more retro EM goodness, trippy passages of bassy dance beats merged with fluttery electronics and quavering heavenly chorals, flowing keyboards adorned with quasi-Berlin sequence notes, shuffling midtempo contemporary trap kit beats, and all of it winds down with the sound of church bells in the distance and birdsong again. Others have probably done a better job than yours truly at describing the music on grey mirrors. I can only sit in wonderment at how in the world Condon managed to pull this off. The "liner notes" of this CD are actually printed on a sheet of parchment, sealed with sealing wax, in which Condon addresses the how, why and wherefore of this album; a story of how an artist lets go of any constraints and treats the creation of music as a fluid living entity in and of itself, as if the music was taking the composer along for the ride. Technically, the CD also sounds amazing with some of the best mixing I've heard in several years (Are headphones a must for this CD? Oh my yes!) Andy Condon deserves accolades for blazing a trail and laying his artist's soul bare and doing it in such a way that he leaves no doubt as to his commitment to his own muse and the large universal soul of art as a state of being for humanity. This is an important piece of work and I urge all EM and enlightened ambient fans to sit up and pay attention to it. Highly recommended. |
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