The Stargazer’s Assistant — Mirrors and Tides, Shivers and Voids
First impressions are that the packaging is a rather lovely thing, with some striking artwork from Patti Jordan that adorns the rather fabulous fold-out digipak. There is even a fold-out poster of the album art included with the package. Looking at the personnel involved and Smith being the multi-instrumentalist he is, playing guitar, keyboards, synths, harmonium, percussion and a host of other instruments including the fridge and the front door. The album was recorded, produced and mixed by Smith and Antti Uusimaki with whom he has worked on and off since the days of Guapo. Antti also adds additional effects and keyboards to the album, also of interest to me is that he worked on Grumbling Fur’s astonishing Furrier album.
Right, let’s get down to the music. The album takes a slow leisurely stroll into action with the 17-minute plus epic, "Coral Butterfly", which after an ambient opening, punctuated by lush piano style chords, descends into found sounds around the midpoint, only to morph into a wholly proggier affair with ethereal vocals before building in intensity to its climax. "Mirrors and Tides" is next, this is built around a guitar riff that reminds me of early Pink Floyd, specifically "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun". The whole track has a murky, acid-drenched vibe that makes me think of the darker side of the hippy dream. "Secret Kingdom of the Swift" follows featuring found sounds and a tribal groove coupled with some lovely 60s style organ, before shifting into something that feels a lot more electronic and progressive.
"Night Soil" gets the second half of the album underway, and after a slow opening featuring the sounds of nature, various drones, and electronic sounds start to creep into the proceedings. A constantly repeating drone gives the whole thing an almost glacial rhythm before it builds to a near wall of noise around the tracks mid-point, before dropping into a lovely slice of ambient electronica, before building again via some heavy bass drones. "Shivers and Voids" follows, and after a found, sound opening things start to step up through some vocal mantras that give the whole thing and Eastern flavor before falling away again towards the end. The final track is "The Dream Kingdom", a slow droning behemoth that builds in intensity as it adds more and more layers to the sound, before just as slowly fading back down to its humble beginnings.
Overall, Mirrors and Tides, Shivers and Voids is a very good diverse and interesting record that draws influence from across the board. A slow droning masterpiece that deserves to be reissued and heard by as many fans of this type of music as possible. An essential release.