Genre/Influences: Cinematographic, minimal-electronics & ambient, IDM.
Content: Danish musician John R. Mirland is an artist I now discovered a couple of years ago by the project Holm/Mirland and his solo-project simply called Mirland.
The sound universe of Mirland is a quite intimate platform reflecting many influences although made by a true passion for electronics. “Sleep Disorder” seems to have been composed during a period of illness. It’s a feeling you instantly will catch when listening to this intimate and minimalistic composition. The work appeals to the listener’s imagination and what I experienced is a kind of solitude symbolized by a creation featuring fewer instruments and becoming pretty cinematographic. “Sleep Disorder” clearly appears to be a title with a deeper meaning and for sure a way to Mirland to exorcise pain.
The humming soundscapes and slow rhythm reflect sorrow while the melancholic piano passages accentuate this fight with the inner-self. Behind the minimalism and experimental approach of the work also hides the fascination of a musician to create his own sound sculptures. That’s what emerges at the surface on some more elaborate cuts like “Unknown Territory” and the dreamy sounding “Only One To Return”.
The intimate mood of the work is suddenly and abruptly interrupted by dance-mind cuts entitled “Destroyer” and “To Make Her Perfect”. Both cuts are completely different, like a symbolic resurrection of the artist coming back to life. We here enter into a more elaborate IDM-approach, which is a side of Mirland he already showed on the albums of Holm/Mirland.
Both last cuts are getting back into moody and minimal creation, like a truly move back into the darker and intimate universe of this work.
Notice by the way that Danish master Claus Larsen already contributed to this work by doing the mastering. The work is mainly available as digital released, but also as limited CD on demand. The CD version is packed in a white digipak reminding me of the legendary white vinyl records.
Conclusion: If you like minimalism and intimate electronic atmospheres this is for sure an album that will fulfill all your needs.
Best songs: “Unknown Territory”, “Destroyer”, “To Make Her Perfect”, “Human Capital”.
Rate: (DP:7½)DP.
Band: http://mirland.dk / www.facebook.com/mirlandofficial
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