The Mirror Pool

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The Mirror Pool
The Mirror Pool.jpg
Studio album by
Released21 August 1995
RecordedEaton Studio, Melbourne;
ABC Studios, Melbourne;
Lisa Gerrard's home studio, Gippsland
Genre World fusion, baroque orchestral
Length68:04
Label 4AD
Producer Lisa Gerrard
Lisa Gerrard chronology
The Mirror Pool
(1995)
Duality
(1998)
Singles from The Mirror Pool
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [1]

The Mirror Pool is Lisa Gerrard's first solo album, released by 4AD in 1995 (one year before the release of Spiritchaser , the last work Dead Can Dance issued before disbanding in 1998).

Contents

Overview

Among this album's musicians was Pieter Bourke, who later co-wrote Gerrard's 1998 album Duality .

Gerrard explained the album title: "If you read about African music, they believe that during the process of making this music that you come into contact with spirits from another plane. They say that this place is like a mirror of the world we live in, [...] With the best music, you don't find the composer or the musicians within the work, you find yourself, your own feelings." [2]

The album's repertoire spans seven years, from 1988 to 1995, [3] featuring some of her material not worked into Dead Can Dance albums. Gerrard noted, "There is usually a surplus of work that overlaps the continuous nature of a Dead Can Dance record. Some of these pieces, which were not realized for reason of continuity, have been collected together in the form of largely orchestral-based works and pieces written primarily for 'voice' music." [4]

The tracks "La Bas (Song of the Drowned)", "Celon" and "Gloradin" were used for the 1995 Heat soundtrack.

Track listing

No.TitleLength
1."Violina (The Last Embrace)"5:43
2."La Bas (Song of the Drowned)"7:41
3."Persian Love Song (The Silver Gun)"2:33
4."Sanvean (I Am Your Shadow)"3:48
5."The Rite"3:22
6."Ajhon"3:09
7."Glorafin"4:50
8."Majhnavea's Music Box"1:34
9."Largo"2:52
10."Werd"1:39
11."Laurelei"5:58
12."Celon"6:06
13."Venteles"2:37
14."Swans"5:47
15."Nilleshna"6:29
16."Gloradin"3:56

Music by Lisa Gerrard, except 3 (traditional, arranged by Gerrard), 4 (Gerrard, Andrew Claxton), 9 (Handel, public domain), and 11 (arranged by Gerrard, Bonnar, Kyryakou).

Personnel

Musical
Technical
Graphical
Acknowledgements

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References

Sourced consulted
Endnotes
  1. AllMusic review
  2. Ken Bogle, October 19, 1995: "Dancing Alone: Lisa Gerrard talks about her new album", The Daily of the University of Washington , online archive Archived 2002-09-22 at archive.today .
  3. 1 2 3 4 Lanham 1995, op. cit.
  4. Lisa Gerrard about Mirror Pool quoted at fansite Dead-Can-Dance.com
  5. Cf. end of chapter V, beginning of chapter XXII.