the of mirror eye

* Angels Of Light: Lena’s Song (4.5 mb) | Destroyer (7.0 mb) | My Sister Said (6.5 mb)
From The Angles Of Light Sing ‘Other People’ : Young God Records : YG27

I’ve been diggin’ on this album for awhile now, and finally decided to post some songs from it. This is the latest project from Michael Gira, aka ex-lead instigator of the Swans (RIP) and the head honcho of Young God Records.

The seed for this album came about when Michael Gira was recording the debut album for the Akron/Family, a group of fellows who create compellingly beautiful music. He was so inspired by their sound that he wanted to use them as the band for his next album. The Akron/Family were more than just a backing band though, as they collaborated fully on the orchestration and the sound for the album.

Just before making this record I’d co-produced the debut album of Akron/Family, and I liked their sensibility so much that I asked them to contribute to my own Angels of Light album. It changed everything. We collaborated fully on the orchestrations and the result was a revelation to me – a complete turnaround in many ways. I guess it’d be fair to say that their youthful enthusiasm and continually erupting stream of ideas infected me with a long absent sense of elation. They all play about 20 instruments with varying degrees of skill, and their approach was often the exact opposite of what I would have initially thought. Of course, in some cases, they did exactly as I said, and shut the hell up about it – ha ha! But the best thing for me was the surprise of hearing the songs in a new light… I had a great time making this record. It’s the most relaxed I’ve been in the studio in years, and I think it shows in the vocal performances. In any event, I hope the songs speak to you in some way…Thanks for your time!

(Michael Gira)

My favorite thing about this album is that with nothing more than acoustic instruments and little to no drums, they’ve created a world of music filled with so many wonderful layers of textures. It’s easy to dive in to the music and get lost in those layers.

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As an extra special bonus, I’ve included a solo rendition of Destroyer performed in 2003 by Michael Gira for a radio session.

* Michael Gira: Destroyer (6.5 mb)
From Live At VPRO : June, 2003 : Amsterdam, Holland