Mirror is the fourth studio album by English experimentalspace rock band Flying Saucer Attack, released by FSA Records and Drag City on 17 January 2000. Lead member David Pearce recorded the album, his second solo project released with the Flying Saucer Attack name, with the assistance of one-time collaborator and English producer Rocker from 1997 to 1999 during a long period of depression. The album builds upon the sampling and noise approaches of the band's previous album, New Lands (1997), exploring electronic experimentation with influences from drum and bass and industrial music, in addition to the lo-finoise pop and gentle psychedelic folk that he originally established the band's style with.
Pearce consciously wrote more direct lyrics on the album, and his vocals and melodies are more pronounced and decipherable than on previous albums, where they were obscured and electronically processed. Upon release, the album was greeted with favourable reviews from critics, complimenting its psychedelic sound, and was a moderate college radio success. Nonetheless, it was the final Flying Saucer Attack album for fifteen years, with Pearce putting the project on hiatus following the album's release.
Background and recording
After their critically acclaimed second album Further (1995), Rachel Brook left Flying Saucer Attack to focus on her own project Movietone, rendering Flying Saucer Attack a solo project for remaining member Dave Pearce.[1] After issuing the rarities compilation album Chorus (1995) to close "phase one" of the band,[2] his first solo album under the Flying Saucer Attack name, New Lands, was a conscious attempt to start "phase two" of the band.[3] Exploring new approaches such as sampling,[1] and a more aggressive noise approach,[4] almost disregarding "traditional song structure altogether"[5] the album has retrospectively been referred to as bridging the gap between Further and Mirror.[6]
While recording Mirror, Pearce was suffering from depression.[7] Having felt that "phase two" of the band "never really happened", he instead posed Mirror as a new "phase two."[6] He recorded Mirror from 1997–99 with contributions from his fellow Bristolian collaborator Rocker.[8] As with New Lands, Mirror was largely recorded on a Yamaha 8-track recorder "with a dual cassette thing". Pearce stated: "Some people may go, 'Oh my god, a cassette eight-track! Oh dear, oh dear.' Even if they can handle the idea of a cassette four-track, they can’t handle the idea of cassette eight-track, but it sounds alright to me."[6]
With regards to some of Mirror being recorded at Rocker's house, presumably the StAR Studios mentioned in the liner notes as the recording studio for four songs,[8] Pearce noted his "fairly proper equipment", having been "building up lots of stuff over the years", although, as he revealed to Magnet, parts of the album were recorded in Pearce's home with his own equipment, before "[meshing] it together": "there are a number of parts that Rocker and I messed with over here a little bit. All the songs I did entirely here or I started them with Rocker and then finished over here. There’s nothing that was done entirely with Rocker’s digital set-up."[6]
Under the influence of Rocker, who had acquired a sampler and "wanted to see if he could make it work," Pearce decided to make Mirror more rhythmic than its predecessors, and a departure from the "one snare, one symbol drumming" he had grown accustomed to: "I thought it would be interesting to see what it would be like to have fairly overt beats, however out of date they may be. I just wanted to see if that could work."[6] As is tradition for Pearce, the folkier songs on the album were recorded alone in his small kitchen.[6] Nick Webb mastered the album at London's famous Abbey Road Studios.[8]
Music and lyrics
Considered the band's most accessible album,[9][6]Mirror features tracks that explore experimentation with genres and sounds that were new to Pearce, including electronic music and beats inspired by drum and bass, most of which are largely prevalent in the album's second half, in addition to some of Pearce's melancholic acoustic folk songs.[9] According to Jason Kane of Allmusic, Mirror has a "soothing and ambient feel" due to its "blurring of lines between noise and notes, of sounds and music,"[10] although Ryan Schreiber felt that, unlike prior albums, Mirror places its focuses on songs, with "the effects pushed just below the surface."[9]Mirror has been referred to as "space-psych"[9] and "expansive, tribal, techno-influenced psychedelia."[11] Pearce, speaking to Ptolemaic Terrascope, said: “What I think I was trying to do before, I’ve done a bit better this time. By ‘better’ I mean ‘nearer’ to what I’ve been trying to do all along... something came out right this time."[12]
"Mirror also somehow manages to encapsulate most everything Pearce had done before, from unprepossessing acoustic laments, to blasted guitar scapes, to fried electronic pulsations, while also bringing new ideas to the table."
The album's background is layered with "atmospheric guitars", whilst "simple basslines provide the anchor, and sound effects take the sound further into space."[10] In keeping with the album's variety, several of the songs incorporate "actual percussion."[9] Unlike on previous albums, the folk songs on Mirror have intelligible lyrics and decipherable melodies.[9] Pearce's vocals on the album are gentle, giving the album a mellow feel despite its sometimes aggressive music.[10] A reviewer for Opus FM summed up Mirror by saying it "is certainly noisy, fuzzy, and psychedelic as all get out. However, it’s also incredibly listenable."[13]
Pearce felt the need "to make songs with an end, if not a chorus," and in an interview, he commented that he was "quite pleased with [Mirror]. I'm not so embarrassed about the singing. However abstract it is, they’re still meant to be songs. In the past, they weren’t very song-y, and this time I did really want for them to be songs."[6] Unlike New Lands, which Pearce has expressed dissatisfaction with, Pearce said that, with Mirror, he "had the title before any of it. In a way, that effected the kind of stuff recorded for it."[6] He elaborated on his songwriting:
"Yeah, the idea was to be more direct, and I think some of it is. I felt like my singing was better so we turned it up a bit. Also, I wanted to try to do something with the lyric side of it and be more direct. Still, I don’t know that I have anything to say, and if I do, it probably comes through more in the music. Most of my opinions on things aren’t really the kind of things I’d want to put into songs. Like, “I hate government.” Well, if I put that into a song, it would just sound embarrassing. You have to be a really good lyricist to tackle a subject like that."[6]
Finding Mirror to "reflect both sides of the millennial chasm, incorporating the atmosphere of the countryside with the sound of hyper-modern urbania," critic Kerwin So felt connections between Mirror and a combination of both urban and rural life: "It might be fair to label Mirror as subliminal trip-hop–indeed, not too long ago Pearce moved from the English countryside to the more urban environment of Bristol, home of such artists as Massive Attack and Portishead. The effect of both rural and urban environments shines clearly throughout this record, suggesting a potential future in which a cohesive humanity can reconcile the introspection and simplicity of the countryside with the technology and progress of modern life."[14]
Songs
"Space (1999)" opens the album with "sweeping billows of sound,"[10] and features "white noise fuzz and phased acoustic-slide guitar" alongside melodic vocals.[15] Taking influence from English folk, the simple "Suncatcher" is purely acoustic.[15] "Islands" is over eight minutes long, morphing "through distinct and attention-grabbing phases, beginning sparsely and building into spiralling crescendos."[9] "Tides", like "Suncatcher", is acoustic-led, albeit "with a thin strand of whispery electronic squeal running through it."[15] The darker "Chemicals" is an industrial song,[10][15] reminiscent of New Lands and containing a "throbbing electronic rhythm, crunching beat, and processed vocals."[15] "Dark Wind" is an ambient composition, "with undulating waves of sound blown by soft electronic winds, a rapid, mutating beat and strumming acoustic guitars fading in and out in the background."[15]
"Winter Song" features a "jungle/drone-rock sound-clash,"[12] "pairing a driving, organic drum’n'bass rhythm with slabs of post-My-Bloody-Valentine noise and imbuing the resultant clamour with grim and bloody determination."[11] The song's rhythm has been compared to Psychick Warriors ov Gaia.[11] "River" is "pure psychedelic pop, albeit pop turned brittle and wobbly by production trickery."[11] The song features a standard rock beat that nonetheless fuels "a rare ethereal, distortion-soaked pop song."[9] "Dust" features folk motifs over a drum loop,[11] contrasting with the metallic off-kilter rhythm and electronic ambient textures of following song "Rise".[15] Closing song "Star City" ends with a white noise section like that which opens the album, essentially bringing the album full circle.[15]
Release
Mirror was released on 17 January 2000 in the United States by Drag City[16] and on 25 January 2000 in the United Kingdom by FSA Records. The original British edition was a limited edition run of 2,000 CDs and 1,000 transparent LPs.[17] Although the album did not chart on any national music chart, it did nonetheless chart on several radio charts; on the CMJ Top 200, a chart "compiled from the top albums played at college and non-commercial radio,"[18]Mirror peaked at number 26, and stayed on the chart for over 10 weeks.[19] The album also peaked at number 13 on Core's radio chart.[20] Pearce mentioned that Drag City were pleased with the album's sales, and were eager for follow-up material.[6] Drag City remastered and reissued the album on 10 June 2016 as an LP in the United States.[21]
The album's psychedelic album artwork, designed by Savage Leisurecentre with typography from Savage Pencil and mirrorball imagery from Sandra Eggington,[8] was seen as heralding in the band's new stylistic direction, and in complete contrast to previous album covers. Ryan Schreiber compared the sleeve to "a Grateful Dead reissue" and noted that "in place of liner notes is a blatantly hallucinogenic image of a psychedelic rainbow over a body of water, with creepy mutations of animals splashing about, and warped, gloopy flying saucers zooming past pink clouds. In a time when drugs are so revered by the hipster elite, it's good to see somebody living it up a little."[9]Aural Innovations noted: "From its wildly psychedelic, mirror ball cover and inner-sleeve art featuring wobbling flying saucers careening over a churning ocean filled with rainbows, pink rabbits, and sea monsters, we know we're in for something different this time from Flying Saucer Attack."[15]
Mirror was greeted with favourable reviews. George Zahora of PopMatters rated the album 8/10 and noted that, although the album is "initially cold, downbeat and distant" as a listening experience, it "will eventually seem beautiful, austere and stoic. If the sounds are new to you, you may find them too off-putting to justify repeated spins. Headphones will help you get the best perspective on this immersive listening experience. And if Mirror seems poppy to you, it’s time to lay off the Terence McKenna books."[11] Rating the album 7.5/10, Pitchfork writer Ryan Schreiber said that it was the band's best album since Further.[9] Kerwin So of Consumable Online asked of readers: "put this record on, take a deep breath, and listen with the lights off. And see where it takes you."[14]
Jordan N. Mamone of CMJ New Music Monthly was favourable, and said the album's "real surprises are the static-y, post-techno beats, which, when paired with Pearce's alternately distortion drenched songs, lend an uncharacteristic, urban vibrancy to portions of the work."[22] Rating the album three stars out of five, AllMusic's Jason Kane felt that, although the album occasionally meanders, "overall, these surges of sound are best enjoyed in the late evening or early morning hours, depending on your intention. Both results are great. Either you will enter one of your most relaxed states of sleep or will awaken as if by a wave of feathers."[10]Aural Innovations magazine felt that "with his Flying Saucer now grounded, [Pearce is] looking for new ways to fly, and new dimensions of sound to explore. Pearce himself felt that this album recaptured a bit of the spirit of the early FSA recordings."[15]
Today, Mirror is regarded as the culmination of Pearce's series of albums "that incorporated beats and a slightly glossier production."[23] In a 2015 "beginner's guide to Flying Saucer Attack", Jon Dale of Fact Magazine said "Pearce sounds free on Mirror, as though he’s enjoying music again."[12] In a biography of the band, Jason Ankeny of Allmusic retrospectively commented that the album "contained some of the project's quietest, folkiest material, as well as blown-out excursions into drum'n'bass similar to Third Eye Foundation."[1]
In 2000, Pearce began work on the band's follow-up album, and spoke about it in an interview at the time, saying the work he had already completed for it "doesn’t seem to be along the same lines as Mirror. I don’t know what it is—it’s pretty unfinished—but it’s not going to be more drumbeats. It’s going to be more bleak acoustic songs."[6] Nonetheless, Pearce put Flying Saucer Attack on hiatus after the release of Mirror, although kept the band's name alive by sporadically publishing limited edition releases of rare, archival recordings.[1] In 2015, Pearce resumed recording as Flying Saucer Attack, and recorded and released the album Instrumentals 2015 later in the same year.[1]
Track listing
All songs written by Dave Pearce except where noted.
Space rock is a music genre characterized by loose and lengthy song structures centered on instrumental textures that typically produce a hypnotic, otherworldly sound. It may feature distorted and reverberation-laden guitars, minimal drumming, languid vocals, synthesizers, and lyrical themes of outer space and science fiction.
For the Norwegian hip hop trio, see Warlocks
The Olivia Tremor Control is an American psychedelic band from Athens, Georgia. The band's main line-up consists of Will Cullen Hart, Bill Doss, Eric Harris, John Fernandes, and Peter Erchick. The Olivia Tremor Control's music combines indie rock and neo-psychedelia, taking influence from psychedelic pop bands of the 1960s, such as the Beach Boys and the Beatles.
Broadcast were an English band formed in Birmingham in 1995 by Trish Keenan and James Cargill (bass). Their musical style blended elements of 1960s psychedelia with early electronic music and samples from esoteric sources; it earned the band a cult following.
Electric Music for the Mind and Body is Country Joe and the Fish's debut album. Released in May 1967 on the Vanguard label, it was one of the first psychedelic albums to come out of the San Francisco Bay Area.
Flying Saucer Attack is an English space rock band formed in Bristol in 1992, led by songwriter David Pearce. Rachel Brook of Movietone was a member during the band's early incarnation; Other musicians contributing to the group's recordings and live performances included Rocker, Matt Elliott and Sam Jones.
Up the Downstair is the second studio album by English progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, first released in June 1993. It was originally intended to be a double album set including the song "Voyage 34", which was instead released as a single in 1992, and other material that ended up on the Staircase Infinities EP (1994). In 2005, it was partially re-recorded, fully re-mixed, remastered and re-released along with the Staircase Infinities EP as a double album. The re-release contains a re-mix by Steven Wilson incorporating newly recorded drums by Gavin Harrison that replace the electronic drums of the original version. Another re-release on double vinyl was pressed on 14 August 2008 on Kscope records. This is identical to the 2005 release, except it is printed on coloured vinyl and the Staircase Infinities disc contains the song "Phantoms".
Holiday is the fourth studio album by American indie pop band The Magnetic Fields. The album was the band's third to be recorded and was intended to be release prior to The Charm of the Highway Strip through the label Feel Good All Over, but due to the label delaying its release, was issued in 1994 five months after its successor. Merge Records would later rerelease the album in 1999.
The Telescopes are an English noise, space rock, dream pop and psychedelic band formed in 1987 by artist, composer, and musician Stephen Lawrie, with band members David Fitzgerald and Joanna Doran joining later. The band's line-up is in constant flux; there can be anywhere between 1 and 20 members on a recording.
Crescent are an alternative music band from Bristol, England, formed in the early 1990s by Matt Jones, Chris Locke and Jasper Larsen. Currently, the two principal members are brothers Matt Jones and Sam Jones. Sam Jones also plays and records as 'The Balky Mule'.
Matt Elliott is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter, originally from Bristol, England and now based in France, who plays dark folk music. He also produced and recorded electronic music under the name The Third Eye Foundation.
Southpacific is a Canadian post-rock/space rock band with prominent shoegaze leanings, originally based in Ottawa. Southpacific's guitar-oriented music is generally psychedelic in nature and filled with reverb, yet at times contains sheets of noise and heavy drumming.
Bass Is Maternal is the debut studio album by Bristolian production duo Smith & Mighty, released by More Rockers in 1995. The album was recorded in 1989 for ffrr/London Records, who had signed the duo after they had built up underground success in their native city for their innovative Bristol underground scene sound, but the labels deemed the record unsuitable for release. The record explores links between dub music and British rave culture, incorporating styles of rock, reggae and electronic music with an emphasis on dub-style bass. The album title and artwork highlight the perceived association between the exposure of bass and maternity.
Set and Setting is the fourth album by the American psychedelic rock group Bardo Pond. It was released on August 10, 1999 on Matador Records. The album's title comes from the writings of Timothy Leary.
The Mechanical Forces of Love is the fourth album by American rock band Medicine, released on July 15, 2003 by Wall of Sound.
Further is the second studio album by the English band Flying Saucer Attack. It was released through Drag City on 17 April 1995.
Flying Saucer Attack is the debut album by the English band Flying Saucer Attack. It was released through the band's FSA Records label in November 1993, and by VHF Records in the United States in 1994.
Electronic rock is a music genre that involves a combination of rock music and electronic music, featuring instruments typically found within both genres. It originates from the late 1960s when rock bands began incorporating electronic instrumentation into their music. Electronic rock acts usually fuse elements from other music styles, including punk rock, industrial rock, hip hop, techno and synth-pop, which has helped spur subgenres such as indietronica, dance-punk and electroclash.
Mr Brubakers Strawberry Alarm Clock is the second studio album by British electronic artist Riz Maslen under her pseudonym Neotropic, released in 1998 on Ntone. Maslen produced the album herself, and conceived it in part to musically vent some of her emotions and frustrations after several personal issues in her life. While the album has some similarities with her debut album, 15 Levels of Magnificence (1996), Mr Brubakers is more abstract, textured and eclectic, featuring specific elements from IDM and trip hop among other genres to create a unique sound. Several guest performers also appear on the record, including vocalists Paul Jason Fredericks and Nina Barry and guitarist Gary Lucas.
Forever Alien is the third studio album by British space rock band Spectrum, a project led by Peter Kember under the pseudonym Sonic Boom. It was released in August 1997 by Space Age Records. After the band's preceding EP Songs for Owsley (1996) moved them away from guitar-oriented music and towards electronic music, Forever Alien furthered this approach considerably, as Kember aimed to create a predominately electronic album that sounded organic and analogue in style. The record is dominated by vintage analogue synthesizers, including the EMS VCS 3 and EMS Synthi AKS. Kember had become fascinated by the synths as he felt they presented him with more musical possibilities than guitars.
↑ Chorus (liner). Flying Saucer Attack. FSA Records. 1995.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
↑ New Lands (liner). Flying Saucer Attack. FSA Records. 1997.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
↑ "Ned's Nineties: 129". archive.org. 9 March 2000. Archived from the original on 9 March 2000. Retrieved 24 January 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
1 2 Mamone, Jordan N. (31 January 2000). "Reviews". CMJ New Music Monthly. 61 (651): 22. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
↑ Keenan, David (15 September 2015). "Flying Saucer Attack". Bomb Magazine. Archived from the original on 20 March 2017. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
