Mimir
untitled single

Cover Image

July 6, 2005

US 7" Brainwashed brain010

  1. side one - [MP3]
  2. side one - [MP3]

Christoph Heemann
Edward Ka-Spel
Phil Knight
Andreas Martin

Cover artwork by Monika Kwiecinska

What it is that defines a supergroup? The fame of it's members, but I'm sure out there there are enough people who never heard of Edward Ka-spel, The Silverman, Andreas Martin, Christoph Heeman and Jim O'Rourke, yet from my perspective some of them gained real fame with whatever they are doing and their supergroup is therefore Mimir. Not that they are very active, since their releases in the last fifteen or so years can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Earlier this year they played a very rare gig, in Antwerpen, Belgium, guesting also Timo van Luyck (Af Ursin). The whole proceedings where captured on video and come on a limited DVD-R with this 7". The 7" captures two tunes, albeit very short, but a great showcase of Mimir's music, which is the sum of many influences: the krautrock psychedelia of The Legendary Pink Dots, the minimalism of Andreas Martin's guitar playing and the deep drone works of Mirror. The a-side is more Mirror and the b-side more Pink Dots. Two sides of the same coin. How they come together is best witnessed while viewing the DVD-R of the concert. Slowly it builds up through a web of drones, then slowly adding a rhythm and a counterpart of it, and an acoustic guitar slides in. Everybody is full on concentration and seeing your heroes sweat is always a good thing! - Frans de Waard, Vital Weekly

Brainwashed continues its 7-inch single series with an alluring slab of thick clear vinyl featuring two untitled pieces by Mimir (Edward Ka-Spel and The Silverman aka Phil Knight of The Legendary Pink Dots, Christoph Heemann, Andreas Martin, and Jim O'Rourke). Side one adopts an improvised psychedelic-folk feel as droning ripples segue into metronomic clicking pulses and Indian hand-drum rhythms overlaid by acoustic strums. More atmospheric by comparison, the other side is a haunted drone of peaceful thrums, swooping electronics, and natural field noises (moans and bird sounds). As befits its single status (though hardly characteristic of the drone genre), be aware that, while each piece conceivably could last a half-hour or more, Mirmir keeps them short. Still, get it while you can, especially when the first fifty pre-orders come with a DVD-R containing footage of the first Mirmir show recorded in Antwerp in February 2005. - Ron Schepper, Textura

Taken from a session recorded a few years back, itís difficult to pinpoint exactly who did what with which black box (Mimir's membership includes Christoph Heemann, Edward Ka-Spel, Andreas Martin, Phil Knight and Jim OíRourke) on this serving of quality single tone drone. Some milky shuddering movement in the aural undergrowth reveals distant pealing bells from some Shyamalan village just beyond the artworkís moody snowbound wood. Turning over, and again untitled, Mimir introduce a slow burning smattering electronic clicking that builds into a looking glass hip-hop beat with metal percussive touches. Mooring it even closer to convention is the growling buzzing sounds that are budged step by step into an unambiguous melody. - Scott McKeating, Stylus