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Mark McGuire

Get Lost

(Editions Mego; US: 27 Sep 2011; UK: 26 Sep 2011)

“Get Lost” might just be what many are considering to say to Mark McGuire and his relentless cavalcade of still life/guitar-centric/droney/ambient/post-rock releases. Get Lost is his second 2011 release on Editions Mego, a label whose residency is prime real estate for the jet setting texturalist flock. McGuire is disciplined and cautious, making his discography, particularly the strummy guitars binding most pieces, a murky trek of selfsameness to waddle through for the manna he occasionally transubstantiates.


It’s also the exact opposite of the wild ephemera that makes Emeralds cohort John Eliot’s Spectrum Spools label (an imprint of Editions Mego) such a roaring success. Yet, beyond the structural suture of earthen folk is a dazzling spectacle of unguitar-like effects and affects. These are the types of things McGuire benefits from getting lost in, and only occasionally does he here, on the seemingly endless (in a good way) “Firefly Constellations” and the deep voice bellows of “Alma”. Overall, the title should be instructive, but McGuire still seems all too comfortable and way too sure of exactly where he stands on Get Lost.

Rating:

Timothy Gabriele is a writer who studied English and Film at the University of Massachussetts at Amherst. He currently lives in the New Haven, CT region with his wife, his daughter, his dog, and two cats. He has been featured in the book Goodbye Billie Jean: The Meaning of Michael Jackson. His column, The Difference Engine, appears regularly at PopMatters. Among his many current projects is a biographical blog series chronicling his life via mix tapes, which can be read at Documentary Mixtape.


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Related Articles
2 Dec 2011
Mark McGuire's recordings from limited cassettes, CD-Rs, and singles find him using his guitar to make a double album that's both folksy and warm, as well as experimental and psychedelic.
23 Feb 2011
By the album’s end, you’ll be returning to those Emeralds releases wondering if anybody else was even playing on them at all.
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