Mind Over Mirrors Shares Bellowing Sun Short Film Produced by MCA Chicago.

[vimeo https://vimeo.com/258350375]

The MCA Chicago has released a short film about the process of creating Mind Over Mirrors’ Bellowing Sun performances. Thanks to the Chicago Reader for premiering it today:

“A richly textured opus, which totally eclipses every previous Mind Over Mirrors effort. Fennelly ups the ante in terms of compositional vision on Bellowing Sun, often layering Bean’s melodic chanting in mesmerizing patterns. Mueller’s thundering drums add bottom end and depth as much or more than they add rhythm, melding in a simpatico fit with Fennelly’s rich, pulsing synthesizers and lush harmonium drones and Becker’s draggy fiddle, which bridges the gap between rustic old-timey sounds and Tony Conrad-style minimalism. I’m still grappling with the album’s ambitious sprawl, which weaves together various threads Fennelly has followed over the years—new age, Indian classical music, drone, Krautrock, minimalism—into a spectacular, cohesive whole that envelops the listener in color and rhythm. Exquisitely crafted, meditative music.” – Peter Margasak, Chicago Reader

PRE-ORDER BELLOWING SUN:

$9.00 – $37.00

FORMAT

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Or support via: Bandcamp (2xLP/CD/digital) | Other Options (2xLP/CD/DL/stream) | Local Record Stores

“In composing Bellowing Sun, Fennelly focused on rhythm more than ever. On “Matchstick Grip” that tactic pays continual dividends, injecting blood into his oxygen-rich music.” – NPR Music on “Matchstick Grip”

“8/10. An extended kosmische treat… rhapsodic. Two generations of experimental Chicago converge in this album of shimmering long-form grooves.” – John Robinson, Uncut

“An atmospheric groove that somehow sounds both intergalactic and medieval. Pulsating strings, shifting drum beats, and a harmonium play about the synth soundscape. The song beams and flickers, inspired by the growing impact of artificial light on living beings.” – Stereogum on “Zeitgebers”

“”Bellowing Sun manages to touch on fascinating iterations of drone music, presenting a wildly diverse landscape of tracks that are both individualistic and work in lock-step to present a cohesive whole.” – Noisey

Mind Over Mirrors will present the live premiere of Bellowing Sun, a new long-form composition, at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago April 6^th and 7^th. The initial run of two performances has sold out, and a 3^rd performance has been added at 10 pm CST on Friday, April 6^th. Tickets are available HERE. Mind Over Mirrors, the quartet of synthesist and harmoniumist Jaimie Fennelly, percussionist and vocalist Janet Bean (Eleventh Dream Day, Freakwater), violinist Jim Becker (Califone), and percussionist Jon Mueller, will play Bellowing Sun in its entirety at each performance. The work has received advance praise from NPR, The Quietus, VICE, Stereogum, and more. It will be released as a 2LP, CD, and download on April 6^th.

As Fennelly was writing the music that comprises Bellowing Sun, he was also designing and building a magnificent zoetrope, covered in abstracted images of the natural world, which appears on the cover of the album. This spinning light sculpture will be the centerpiece of the live production of Bellowing Sun. The zoetrope was created in collaboration with visual artists Timothy Breen, Eliot Irwin, and lighting designer Keith Parham. The production was commissioned by the MCA.

Listen to “Vermillion Pink”