Info: Trick Mist (Gavin Murray) is a songwriter, electronic musician and multi instrumentalist based in Cork. His music positions the lyrical song within a wider experimental electronic context. An intriguing blend of lyrics, traditional music odes and field recordings form a sound which moves you inside and out.
Self produced in Ireland, on the road in India and South-East Asia, his debut album 'Both Ends' is a compelling, cohesive and original body of work. Sonically the album draws heavily from a unique library of sounds captured by Murray while travelling. Emotionally intense and deeply thoughtful, the album is a product both of Murray's internal monologue and his external environment cultivated over the last 2 years.
In Murray's words - "The name 'Both Ends' is a sort of neutral assertion, a respect for both sides of the story. Opposition and contrasts have always interested me. Looking into all sorts of things from different points of view and asking myself 'where do I stand with this, where do I stand with that?' 'Both Ends' encapsulates this inquisitiveness and curiosity which has been at the heart of my work. The title resonates with the process of constant comparison between my experience of travelling India particularly and my experience of home. 'Both Ends' also outlines a more personal choice arrived at over the course of the albums production to continue to be so analytical or to just let things go."
Like a torch lamp-lit tunnel leading to the underground of Dante's Inferno, Trick Mist pushes us in the back towards the first Circle, Limbo, with the opening incantation of 'Magic Dust' from debut album Both Ends, despite the darkness, the swiping and scathing sonic splurges coupled with Murray's vocal are extremely vivid and ritualistic. "We don't believe in god anymore, but we said a prayer for you last night..."
'Beyond Your Means' rakes at heart and lumps at throat, Trick Mist moulding a bleak character out of the mud of despair, a broken life, one filled with error and regret. This is a perfect example of how he merges traditional with modern, a sean-nós vocal from the fireside, with the plumes of smoke mirroring the delicately dropped electronic sounds that plod forlornly by the hearth. It's magical to me how sharp an image it draws.
On 'Heart' the music is the warm palm of a hand you can rest your cheek on for respite and comfort. The off-kilter drum-pad plays against the sound and keys, a small vibrato. The comfort gets slightly contorted as a more dark-wave mood overcomes us, but with a steady hand we are assured all is well and there is no need to be concerned.
Self produced in Ireland, on the road in India and South-East Asia, his debut album 'Both Ends' is a compelling, cohesive and original body of work. Sonically the album draws heavily from a unique library of sounds captured by Murray while travelling. Emotionally intense and deeply thoughtful, the album is a product both of Murray's internal monologue and his external environment cultivated over the last 2 years.
In Murray's words - "The name 'Both Ends' is a sort of neutral assertion, a respect for both sides of the story. Opposition and contrasts have always interested me. Looking into all sorts of things from different points of view and asking myself 'where do I stand with this, where do I stand with that?' 'Both Ends' encapsulates this inquisitiveness and curiosity which has been at the heart of my work. The title resonates with the process of constant comparison between my experience of travelling India particularly and my experience of home. 'Both Ends' also outlines a more personal choice arrived at over the course of the albums production to continue to be so analytical or to just let things go."
Like a torch lamp-lit tunnel leading to the underground of Dante's Inferno, Trick Mist pushes us in the back towards the first Circle, Limbo, with the opening incantation of 'Magic Dust' from debut album Both Ends, despite the darkness, the swiping and scathing sonic splurges coupled with Murray's vocal are extremely vivid and ritualistic. "We don't believe in god anymore, but we said a prayer for you last night..."
'Beyond Your Means' rakes at heart and lumps at throat, Trick Mist moulding a bleak character out of the mud of despair, a broken life, one filled with error and regret. This is a perfect example of how he merges traditional with modern, a sean-nós vocal from the fireside, with the plumes of smoke mirroring the delicately dropped electronic sounds that plod forlornly by the hearth. It's magical to me how sharp an image it draws.
On 'Heart' the music is the warm palm of a hand you can rest your cheek on for respite and comfort. The off-kilter drum-pad plays against the sound and keys, a small vibrato. The comfort gets slightly contorted as a more dark-wave mood overcomes us, but with a steady hand we are assured all is well and there is no need to be concerned.
Trick Mist - Two Doors Down
A beautiful 1 minute interlude takes you to the heart of India, but not the hustle and bustle of the sprawling chaotic cities, rather an oasis of calm, a scene from everyday life put in a capsule for eternity. Murray's baritone vocal has always enchanted and whisked me away to a variety of landscapes in my imagination, fantasy realms. On next track and previous single 'Two Doors Down' however it feels uncharacteristically real and in the present. A traditional expression of a very Irish method of story-telling, no instrumentation on this occasion, but strangely for me I could imagine the music in my head, nay, hear it despite its absence.
The first single to be released from Both Ends, almost exactly a year ago, was 'Fraction', the music itself sounds lost, looking for a way out of the room its creator gave life to it in, probing blindly at the walls. Trick Mist then morphs it into a pulsating sliver of downtempo chill, there's a very submissive drift to the sound, yet a very lightly buzzing energy as the track unfolds. The recent remix by Phare (included above) is also so legit.
Trick Mist - Abroad in The Yard
Latest single 'Abroad in The Yard' (above video) opens with a Nicolas Jaar worthy sequence, the deep and heavy drone going toe to toe with his baritone vocal. There's some serious slicing and erratic placement of the layers causing a disorientating effect, but submission is given without conditions by the listener as we get subsumed within the skirmish. It's so hypnotic that the first time I listened to the track and it drew to an end I guessed it was just under 3 and a half minutes, missing an additional 2 minutes somewhere. That warped voice that lured us in on opener 'Magic Dust' also returns, like a guide, or a deceptive entity to lead us astray.
Up until now Trick Mist has taken us to previously undiscovered corners of our mind, but now on 'There We Go Again' / 'Blue Sky' he takes us outside, and off-planet. One of the most intriguing aspects of this album for me, which recurs frequently, is how Murray can make his music sound so ancient, it's akin to a version of himself wandering across the then known world millennia ago and sending a message to present day Trick Mist. Sounds and secret knowledge that only he has the key to unlock.
Similar to 'Beyond Your Means', Trick Mist the seanchaí returns, even if it was sung in a different language, one the listener didn't know, the emotional impact would not be diminished in any way. Dual happy / sad synth mixes optimism with a knowing dread of what is around the corner, fondness and sadness laying down beside each other on the same bed.
Both Ends was coming, from his early single releases, to the 2015 EP Jars in Rows, Murray was assertively travelling towards the creativity that is lavishly spread across his debut album. For all of its calm exterior, few experimental pieces of music can simultaneously maintain a vice-like grip on your heart, and a soul you didn't believe you had anymore. There's a greatness at work here, the album is littered with examples, a perfectly formed expression in music of all that Trick Mist has absorbed in memory, environment, human experience. It begins.
Both Ends is released tomorrow, 30th of November on Pizza Pizza Records and will be available on 12" vinyl as well as across all major streaming platforms.
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Bandcamp: https://trickmist.bandcamp.com/
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SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/trick-mist
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TrickMist
