MIND OVER MIRRORS

Progressive Electronic • United States

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Mind Over Mirrors biography
Formed in 2010, Mind Over Mirrors is the kosmische musik project of North American synthesist/harmoniumist Jaime Fennelly. Mind Over Mirrors presents a nature-reverent and secular devotional music, forged through Fennelly's unique setup of harmonium, analogue synthesizers, oscillators and effect processors. Fennelly's music is defined by coruscating drones, mantra-like repetitive patterns and arpeggiating synths, forming a warm and all-encompassing sound bath, consistent from the solo hypnosis of his early work to his modern-day quartet incarnation (which Pitchfork Media described as "ecstatic hillbilly krautrock raga drone"). Mind Over Mirrors' style perfectly encapsulates their many influences, from the krautrock of Harmonia, Tony Conrad & Faust, Popol Vuh and Cluster, to the avant-garde jazz of Alice Coltrane, Jon Hassell and Don Cherry, along with electronic music pioneers such as Brian Eno, Terry Riley and �liane Radigue and experimental composers like Franco Battiato, Moondog, Henry Flynt and Lino Capra Vaccina.

Fennelly's project began to take shape in 2007, when the New York native left Bushwick and his free-rock band Peeesseye to live with his partner Serena Lander on the remote Waldron Island in the Salish Sea off of Washington state, working as a restoration forester while experimenting with his acoustic harmonium in a solar-powered cottage. Fennelly moved with Lander to Seattle in early 2010 and then to her hometown of Chicago in the autumn, where she used to travel for work while living on Waldron (her photographs and illustrations adorn the majority of Mind Over Mirrors' album covers). Reunited with reliable electricity, Fennelly began recording in Seattle and continued in Chicago after adding a pedal-driven harmonium and synthesizers to his arsenal, resulting in his 2011 debut, The Voice Rolling, released on Digitalis Recordings. The album was the first of four which saw Fennelly working alone, composing his work in isolation with only occasional and minimal outside support.

In 2014, exhausted from a three-month solo tour and interested in expanding his sound through collaboration, Fennelly reached out to Circuit des Yeux's Haley Fohr after sharing the bill and witnessing her set at Austin Psych Fest. Now a duo, Mind Over Mirrors released The Voice Calling through Immune Recordings in 2015, with Fohr's voice and lyrics supplementing Fennelly's now-established sonic template. That same year, Fennelly was approached by David Rave...Formed in 2010, Mind Over Mirrors is the kosmische musik project of North American synthesist/harmoniumist Jaime Fennelly. Mind Over Mirrors presents a nature-reverent and secular devotional music, forged through Fennelly's unique setup of harmonium, analogue synthesizers, oscillators and effect processors. Fennelly's music is defined by coruscating drones, mantra-like repetitive patterns and arpeggiating synths, forming a warm and all-encompassing sound bath, consistent from the solo hypnosis of his early work to his modern-day quartet incarnation (which Pitchfork Media described as "ecstatic hillbilly krautrock raga drone"). Mind Over Mirrors' style perfectly encapsulates their many influences, from the krautrock of Harmonia, Tony Conrad & Faust, Popol Vuh and Cluster, to the avant-garde jazz of Alice Coltrane, Jon Hassell and Don Cherry, along with electronic music pioneers such as Brian Eno, Terry Riley and �liane Radigue and experimental composers like Franco Battiato, Moondog, Henry Flynt and Lino Capra Vaccina.

Fennelly's project began to take shape in 2007, when the New York native left Bushwick and his free-rock band Peeesseye to live with his partner Serena Lander on the remote Waldron Island in the Salish Sea off of Washington state, working as a restoration forester while experimenting with his acoustic harmonium in a solar-powered cottage. Fennelly moved with Lander to Seattle in early 2010 and then to her hometown of Chicago in the autumn, where she used to travel for work while living on Waldron (her photographs and illustrations adorn the majority of Mind Over Mirrors' album covers). Reunited with reliable electricity, Fennelly began recording in Seattle and continued in Chicago after adding a pedal-driven harmonium and synthesizers to his arsenal, resulting in his 2011 debut, The Voice Rolling, released on Digitalis Recordings. The album was the first of four which saw Fennelly working alone, composing his work in isolation with only occasional and minimal outside support.

In 2014, exhausted from a three-month solo tour and interested in expanding his sound through collaboration, Fennelly reached out to Circuit des Yeux's Haley Fohr after sharing the bill and witnessing her set at Austin Psych Fest. Now a duo, Mind Over Mirrors released The Voice Calling through Immune Recordings in 2015, with Fohr's voice and lyrics supplementing Fennelly's now-established sonic template. That same year, Fennelly was approached by David Ravel of Milwaukee's Alverno College, offering institutional funding for a potential performance to be realised in March 2017. While the college cancelled its program and with it Fennelly's show late in 2015, the synthesist continued to develop the Alverno project while simultaneously preparing an album, looking to take his sound to even greater heights. To that end, Fennelly and Fohr amassed a full-fledged band consisting of fellow Chicago musicians: drummer Jon Mueller (of Death Blues and Pele), violinist Jim Becker (of Califone and formerly of Boxhead Ensemble) and vocalist/percussionist Janet Bean (of Freakwater and Eleventh Dream Day).

In early 2016, Mind Over Mirrors signed with the folk-centric North Carolina-based label Paradise of Bachelors - a fitting choice for Fennelly's attempts to bridge progressive electronic with vernacular music from the American South - and released Undying Color in 2017, a tribute to Fennelly's late uncle. With Ravel's help, Mind Over Mirrors eventually secured a commission from the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, fully realising the multimedia project nearly three years in the works. The same lineup sans Fohr assembled for 2018's Bellowing Sun, billed as a "sonic inquiry into celestial cycles and the illuminating nature of darkness", inspired by North American writer Henry Beston's The Outermost House. Known for playing his solo live sets off-stage in the middle of the audience, Fennelly and his band continued this aesthetic for a two-night residency at the MCA, performing Bellowing Sun on a circular stage in the round under an enormous spinning simulacrum of the zoetrope which adorns the LP's cover.

Similar artists in the archives include Bitchin Bajas, Emeralds, Tim Hecker, J.D. Emmanuel, Mother Mallard's Portable Masterpiece Co. and Pelt.

- Gordy, October 2023read more

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MIND OVER MIRRORS discography

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MIND OVER MIRRORS top albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

4.00 \| 1 ratings The Voice Rolling 2011	4.00 \| 1 ratings High & Upon 2011	4.00 \| 1 ratings Check Your Swing 2012	3.00 \| 1 ratings When the Rest Are Up at Four 2013	4.00 \| 1 ratings The Voice Calling 2015
3.00 \| 1 ratings Undying Color 2017	4.00 \| 1 ratings Bellowing Sun 2018

MIND OVER MIRRORS Live Albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

MIND OVER MIRRORS Videos (DVD, Blu-ray, VHS etc)

MIND OVER MIRRORS Boxset & Compilations (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

MIND OVER MIRRORS Official Singles, EPs, Fan Club & Promo (CD, EP/LP, MC, Digital Media Download)

0.00 | 0 ratings

Near Your Dwelling
2012

3.00 | 1 ratings

Small Portion
2012

MIND OVER MIRRORS Reviews

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Thanks to gordy for the artist addition.

4.00 \| 1 ratings The Voice Rolling 2011	4.00 \| 1 ratings High & Upon 2011	4.00 \| 1 ratings Check Your Swing 2012	3.00 \| 1 ratings When the Rest Are Up at Four 2013	4.00 \| 1 ratings The Voice Calling 2015
3.00 \| 1 ratings Undying Color 2017	4.00 \| 1 ratings Bellowing Sun 2018