Mind Over Mirrors New Song-Cycle / Album to Premiere Live at Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art

Mind Over Mirrors has announced a new song-cycle and album entitled Bellowing Sun, which will be released by Paradise of Bachelors on April 6th and premiered live at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago the same night. An encore performance will be presented April 7th. Mind Over Mirrors' Jaime Fennelly has been developing Bellowing Sun for three years, composing the music and recording the album, as well as co-designing and building a massive zoetrope that will be installed above the ensemble during live iterations of the piece. The production was commissioned by the MCA.

Bellowing Sun is kinetic, both literally and musically. Along with Jim Becker (Irn and Wine, Califone) on violin, Janet Beveridge Bean (Freakwater, Eleventh Dream Day) on vocals, zither, and percussion, and Jon Mueller (Death Blues) on drums, Fennelly (on Indian pedal harmonium and synthesizers) has created cosmic music that is driving and physical, defined by movement. Fennelly developed the music alongside the creation of the zoetrope, the creative forces driving both mingling and influencing the advancement of each. The sculpture, created in collaboration with visual artists Timothy Breen, Eliot Irwin, and lighting designer Keith Parham, will spin above the band, animating the images emblazoned on its translucent canvas. Popul Vuh, Arthur Russell, Laurie Spiegel, Terry Riley, and La Düsseldorf are all touch points for this music, but it exists in a universe all its own.

Today NPR premiered "Matchstick Grip," one of the most dynamic and energetic pieces Mind Over Mirrors has ever released. Clocking in at nearly 10 minutes, the song features buoyantly pulsating synthesizers and interlocking drums, with Bean's majestic incantations above.

Last week Mind Over Mirrors also shared a short video trailer for the project, which features footage of the zoetrope and an excerpt of the album opening track "Feeding on the Flats."