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Mist

House

(Spectrum Spools; US: 13 Sep 2011; UK: 29 Aug 2011)

Say this for Mist: the duo has created a sound. It’s difficult to remember any musical act that has been able to evoke the sort of stillness that Mist does with so many moving parts crashing around one another. It’s certainly likely that the old electronic stalwarts like Aphex Twin and Autechre have managed similar feats from time to time, but nobody has built a sound on it. Mist’s House accomplishes this feat by eschewing traditional electronic percussion for the sake of letting the sequencers do all of the talking. There’s no oontz oontz here, no bass-snare-bassbasssnare, and what the listener gets is a series of electronic still lifes. Opener “Twin Lanes” sparkles, “Daydream” serves as a mid-album deep breath, “I Can Still Hear Your Voice” spends nine minutes sounding like it is inches away from turning into a New Order song, and closer “P.M.” finishes things on a lovely, quiet, science fiction-esque note. Its seven tracks combine for almost an hour’s worth of music, but that hour is so of a piece that it passes quickly, almost unnoticed through the speakers. House is not the type of album to attract attention, but it’s also a fascinating little thing that’s hard to forget.

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Mike Schiller is a software engineer in Buffalo, NY who enjoys filling the free time he finds with media of any sort -- music, movies, and lately, video games. Stepping into the role of PopMatters Multimedia editor in 2006 after having written music and game reviews for two years previous, he has renewed his passion for gaming to levels not seen since his fondly-remembered college days of ethernet-enabled dorm rooms and all-night Goldeneye marathons. His three children unconditionally approve of their father's most recent set of obsessions.


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