| CD REVIEW Mir |
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Band : Mir Occasionally, the life of a music journalist can be really difficult! Some bands (or as in the case of Mir, their local distributor) will send you their promo material, and simply forget to mention any track titles, and give you only a minimum of info! Well, in this particular case the little bit they gave me (record labels involved, short background on the 3 band members) eventually díd lead to my finding the track-list of the album and a little more info…but not mùch more, and in my search for info I was somewhat hampered by the fact that there’s at least a dozen bands by the name Mir out there! As far as I can assertain, the Swiss Drone specialists that go by the name Mir (composed of former Ensemble Phoenix founder, Cortex and late 16-17 member, drummer/ electronics handler Daniel Buess, guitar/ bass player Papiro, and organ/ synth/ additional guitar player Michael Zaugg) have been around at least since early 2005, when they recorded their debut 4-track EP Ex Modules in a basement.The EP sold out in 2006, and was then made available as download. Since then, they’ve been playing gigs at a regular basis, and even did a tour in Japan, proof of which the Abandon Ship EP they made to coincide with it (there’s apparently still some copies left, contact either the band or A Tree In The Field Records if interested). The 7 instrumental tracks we find on Mir’s latest outing were apparently recorded live in October 2008 at Bern’s Dachstock Reitschule by Alex Buess, whom also mixed the thing. Mastering was then done by Weasel Walter in Chicago. By the way, for the lovers of authentic sounds, this album is not only available in CD format, but also in limited edition double 12-inch vinyl form with handmade screenprint covers. With my mind often working in mysterious ways, some of the more guitar-geared tracks reminded me of ‘90s Drone pioneer duo Main (Robert Hampson & Scott Dawson, both formerly of Loop), but of course since that band’s days (the towel was thrown in definitely in 2006, when Hampson opted for his solo career) many more, some influencial, Drone bands have risen, and since Mir (funny choice for a name with the wall-of-sound kind of music the trio makes, as the meaning of the russian word is peace, tranquillity) don’t name any on their MySpace page, it’s hard to know from where the trio drew its influences. Fact is, the majority of the songs on this 7-tracker (still not even lasting a full half hour) have a more elaborate electronics filling, which is occasionally quite “experimental”…actually sounds more like improvisational passages, but then the tracks had been played live plenty of times during 2007, so…what they sound like on the album may very well be what they’re intended to sound like all the time! Check out what this band sounds like at myspace.com/mirmusic, where the band posted plénty of material, both as audio and as live videos! Personally, I’m hooked, and I cannot wait for the threesome to enter a studio again soon enough! 98/100 Tony. |