MP3 Mayfairgrin - Memoirs From the Deep End
impressionistic music existing outside of the verse-chorus-verse structures of a three-minute pop song that expand and blur the boundries between folk, ambient and electronica.
6 MP3 Songs in this album (68:57) !
Related styles: ELECTRONIC: Electronica, ELECTRONIC: Ambient
People who are interested in Massive Attack Aphex Twin Dead Can Dance should consider this download.
Details:
"dear gosling" opens with an ominous start that gives way to a melancholy organ serenaded by cello and wisps of synthesizer. a crawling bass line lays the foundation for the gliding trip-hop beats that dominate the track.
"arabianesque" travels to eastern villages with it''s exotic rhythms and droning melody. best described as a blend of Dead Can Dance, Moby, and Front Line Assembly.
"making mud stars" floats blissfully out from underneath "arabianesque" with symphonic strings and skittery drum-n-bass and continues building for 14 minutes.
"of distance and resonance" features vocals by fabian rush. his soulful crooning is complimented by acidic jazz beats, synth, drops of reverb-drenched guitar, and theremin. the lyrics are inspirational, soul-bearing, and spiritual.
"the raft is not the shore" continues with a similar theme. lightly picked guitar maneuvers over and under cascades of anthemic drums, synth, and organ. the track increases in it''s intensity until the last 2 minutes where it''s then overwhelmed by the dark and harmonic drones of the 17 minute long, "filament".
RIYL: Massive Attack, Aphex Twin, Dead Can Dance, Boards Of Canada, Godspeed You Black Emperor!, Meat Beat Manifesto, This Mortal Coil, Slowdive, Sigur Ros, My Bloody Valentine
**mayfairgrin weaves a schizophrenic journey through swirling pads and atmospheres with an ever-changing backdrop of filtered beats and loops. Often, this pads-meets-beats writing style paints two completely different sonic pictures and overlaps them in a way that somehow makes total sense. Serene vs. chaos. Peace vs. aggression. Yin vs. yang. The amazing thing is, these totally contradictory ideas mesh flawlessly, like they belong together.
Then, when you''re finally comfortable with allowing your brain to join peaceful music with active beats, track 4 ("of distance and resonance") takes you on a completely different course. A vocal track with a music bed that gives you the sensation of sitting in some sort of twisted, outer space jazz lounge, sipping on an alien cocktail.
What''s really fun about this album is the fact that it can speak different things to you, depending on the listening environment. What I mean by that is, upon the second listening of it, I allowed myself to slip into a half-awake, but not-quite-asleep state to where the music was the only thing I was focusing on. Allowing my mind to wander how ever the music led it to, some of the interesting images the music painted included: sitting on a mountain top in Tibet surrounded by futuristic, steam-powered industrial machines; laying on a beach with waves crashing around me while an unseen battle raged just overhead; on and on the images played, changing as the music did.
The only thing about this album that concerned me was the length of the tracks. The shortest track on the album clocks in at 8-and-a-half minutes. Surprisingly, these long tracks go by quickly, because of their ever-shifting soundscapes. The only exception is the final track which clocks in at just over 17 minutes. "Filament" is an ambient drone piece that, sonically is extremely pleasing, but length-wise, just seemed a bit long. The samples at the end of the track, however, snapped me back into the song leaving me thinking, "Huh... that was actually pretty cool!"
Overall, if you are looking for music to help you relax, think, and even visualize SOUND, then I highly recommend ''Memoirs From The Deep End''. It''s a journey well worth taking.**
4 1/2 out of 5: review by dan harvell [https://www.tradebit.com]