The Mirror Pool
Encyclopedia
The Mirror Pool is Lisa Gerrard
's first solo album, released in 1995 (one year before the release of Spiritchaser
, the last work Dead Can Dance
put out before disbanding in 1998).
, online archive.
The repertoire of this album spans seven years from 1988 to 1995,Lanham 1995, op. cit. featuring some of her material not worked into Dead Can Dance
albums, as explained by Gerrard: " There is usually a surplus of work that overlaps the continuous nature of a Dead Can Dance record. Some of these pieces, which were not realized for reason of continuity, have been collected together in the form of largely orchestral-based works and pieces written primarily for 'voice' music. '".
The tracks "La Bas", "Celon" and "Gloradin" were also used for the 1995 Heat soundtrack
.
Among this album's musicians was Pieter Bourke
, who later co-wrote Gerrard's 1998 album Duality.
Music by Lisa Gerrard, except 3 (traditional, arranged by Gerrard), 4 (Gerrard, Andrew Claxton), 9 (Handel
, public domain), and 11 (arranged by Gerrard, Bonnar, Kyryakou).
Technical
Graphical
Acknowledgements
Lisa Gerrard
Lisa Gerrard is an Australian musician, singer, and composer who rose to prominence as part of the music group Dead Can Dance with former music partner Brendan Perry....
's first solo album, released in 1995 (one year before the release of Spiritchaser
Spiritchaser
Spiritchaser is the seventh and last studio album by Dead Can Dance before Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard went their separate ways. It expands on its exploration of world music and like Into the Labyrinth, Spiritchaser was recorded at Quivvy Church, Perry's personal studio in Ireland.The track...
, the last work Dead Can Dance
Dead Can Dance
Dead Can Dance are an ethereal neoclassical duo formed in Melbourne, Australia, in August 1981, by Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry. The band relocated to London in May 1982 and disbanded in 1998. Their 1996 album Spiritchaser reached No. 1 on the Billboard Top World Music Albums Chart...
put out before disbanding in 1998).
Overview
About the album's title, Gerrard explained: " If you read about African music, they believe that during the process of making this music that you come into contact with spirits from another plane. They say that this place is like a mirror of the world we live in, [...] With the best music, you don't find the composer or the musicians within the work, you find yourself, your own feelings. ".Ken Bogle, October 19, 1995: "Dancing Alone: Lisa Gerrard talks about her new album", The Daily of the University of WashingtonThe Daily of the University of Washington
The Daily of the University of Washington, usually referred to in Seattle simply as The Daily, is the student newspaper of the University of Washington in Seattle, USA.-History:...
, online archive.
The repertoire of this album spans seven years from 1988 to 1995,Lanham 1995, op. cit. featuring some of her material not worked into Dead Can Dance
Dead Can Dance
Dead Can Dance are an ethereal neoclassical duo formed in Melbourne, Australia, in August 1981, by Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry. The band relocated to London in May 1982 and disbanded in 1998. Their 1996 album Spiritchaser reached No. 1 on the Billboard Top World Music Albums Chart...
albums, as explained by Gerrard: " There is usually a surplus of work that overlaps the continuous nature of a Dead Can Dance record. Some of these pieces, which were not realized for reason of continuity, have been collected together in the form of largely orchestral-based works and pieces written primarily for 'voice' music. '".
- "La Bas" refers to French writer Joris-Karl HuysmansJoris-Karl HuysmansCharles-Marie-Georges Huysmans was a French novelist who published his works as Joris-Karl Huysmans . He is most famous for the novel À rebours...
's controversial 1891 novel Là-Bas (Down There); a main character is the bell-ringer Carhaix from Brittany, obsessed with legends of prophetic bells, echoing the fabled bells of the drowned cathedral of YsYsYs , also spelled Is or Kêr-Is in Breton, and Ker-Ys in French , is a mythical city that was built on the coast of Brittany and later swallowed by the ocean...
in Brittany.
- "Persian Love Song" is a traditional piece from ShirazShiraz, IranShiraz is the sixth most populous city in Iran and is the capital of Fars Province, the city's 2009 population was 1,455,073. Shiraz is located in the southwest of Iran on the Roodkhaneye Khoshk seasonal river...
in southern IranIranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
, arranged by Lisa Gerrard. It was previously performed in concerts by Dead Can Dance and eventually included on their 1994 live album Toward the WithinToward the WithinToward the Within is the only official live album of Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard's group Dead Can Dance. It contains 15 songs, of which only four appeared on their previous albums, and two of which were later re-recorded and included on Lisa Gerrard's first solo album, The Mirror Pool...
.
- "SanveanSanvean"Sanvean: I am your shadow" is a song co-written in September 1993 by Lisa Gerrard and composer/multi-instrumentalist Andrew Claxton during rehearsals in Ireland for the 1993 Dead Can Dance international tour. Lisa Gerrard stated she wrote this song missing her family that had remained in Australia...
" was written in September 1993. It too was previously performed in concerts by Dead Can Dance and eventually included on their 1994 live album Toward the WithinToward the WithinToward the Within is the only official live album of Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard's group Dead Can Dance. It contains 15 songs, of which only four appeared on their previous albums, and two of which were later re-recorded and included on Lisa Gerrard's first solo album, The Mirror Pool...
.
- "Largo" is the opening aria from HandelHANDELHANDEL was the code-name for the UK's National Attack Warning System in the Cold War. It consisted of a small console consisting of two microphones, lights and gauges. The reason behind this was to provide a back-up if anything failed....
's opera Serse (Xerxes)SerseSerse is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel. It was first performed in London on 15 April 1738. The Italian libretto was adapted by an unknown hand from that by Silvio Stampiglia for an earlier opera of the same name by Giovanni Bononcini in 1694...
, a popular composition titled "Ombra mai fuOmbra mai fu"Ombra mai fu" is the opening aria from the 1738 opera Serse by George Frideric Handel.-Context:The opera was a commercial failure, lasting only five performances in London after its premiere. In the 19th century, however, the aria was rediscovered and became one of Handel's best-known pieces...
" but usually nicknamed "Largo" (despite being larghetto).
- "Laurelei" is a variant spelling of the LoreleiLoreleiThe Lorelei is a rock on the eastern bank of the Rhine near St. Goarshausen, Germany, which soars some 120 metres above the waterline. It marks the narrowest part of the river between Switzerland and the North Sea. A very strong current and rocks below the waterline have caused many boat...
Rhine Maiden, so as not to conflict with a fellow 4AD's Cocteau Twins song.
- "Celon" was written a few days before Gerrard gave birth to her daughter: " [...] there's this weird thing that takes place, thinking about procreation, sex, and death -- you get very morbid just before you have a baby. ". The River Celon is a fictional river in J. R. R. TolkienJ. R. R. TolkienJohn Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...
's mythology.
The tracks "La Bas", "Celon" and "Gloradin" were also used for the 1995 Heat soundtrack
Heat (soundtrack)
Heat is the soundtrack album to the 1995 film Heat. The score is compiled mostly with Elliot Goldenthal's orchestrations although there are a variety of other artists featured including U2/Brian Eno project Passengers, Lisa Gerrard, Moby and Terje Rypdal.-The score:The track "New Dawn Fades" is...
.
Among this album's musicians was Pieter Bourke
Pieter Bourke
Pieter Bourke is an Australian percussionist, composer, and audio engineer. He has collaborated with Dead Can Dance, and recorded material with ex-Dead Can Dance Lisa Gerrard. He also collaborated with Australian musician David Thrussell , first as part of the latter's band Snog, then just the two...
, who later co-wrote Gerrard's 1998 album Duality.
Track listing
- "Violina (The Last Embrace)" – 5:43
- "La Bas (Song of the Drowned)" – 7:41
- "Persian Love Song (The Silver Gun)" – 2:33
- "Sanvean (I Am Your Shadow)Sanvean"Sanvean: I am your shadow" is a song co-written in September 1993 by Lisa Gerrard and composer/multi-instrumentalist Andrew Claxton during rehearsals in Ireland for the 1993 Dead Can Dance international tour. Lisa Gerrard stated she wrote this song missing her family that had remained in Australia...
" – 3:48 - "The Rite" – 3:22
- "Ajhon" – 3:09
- "Glorafin" – 4:50
- "Majhnavea's Music Box" – 1:34
- "Largo" – 2:52
- "Werd" – 1:39
- "Laurelei" – 5:58
- "Celon" – 6:06
- "Venteles" – 2:37
- "Swans" – 5:47
- "Nilleshna" – 6:29
- "Gloradin" – 3:56
Music by Lisa Gerrard, except 3 (traditional, arranged by Gerrard), 4 (Gerrard, Andrew Claxton), 9 (Handel
HANDEL
HANDEL was the code-name for the UK's National Attack Warning System in the Cold War. It consisted of a small console consisting of two microphones, lights and gauges. The reason behind this was to provide a back-up if anything failed....
, public domain), and 11 (arranged by Gerrard, Bonnar, Kyryakou).
Personnel
Musical- Lisa GerrardLisa GerrardLisa Gerrard is an Australian musician, singer, and composer who rose to prominence as part of the music group Dead Can Dance with former music partner Brendan Perry....
– vocals, yang ch'in/yangqinYangqinThe trapezoidal yangqin is a Chinese hammered dulcimer, originally from Middle East and Persia . It used to be written with the characters 洋琴 , but over time the first character changed to 揚 , which means "acclaimed". It is also spelled yang quin or yang ch'in...
(7, 11, 14), arranger (3, 11) - John Bonnar – orchestra conductor/arranger (1-4, 7, 10, 12-13), arranger (11), keyboards (9, 11), vocals (5, 12)
- Pieter BourkePieter BourkePieter Bourke is an Australian percussionist, composer, and audio engineer. He has collaborated with Dead Can Dance, and recorded material with ex-Dead Can Dance Lisa Gerrard. He also collaborated with Australian musician David Thrussell , first as part of the latter's band Snog, then just the two...
– vocals (5 intro), bass tablaTablaThe tabla is a popular Indian percussion instrument used in Hindustani classical music and in popular and devotional music of the Indian subcontinent. The instrument consists of a pair of hand drums of contrasting sizes and timbres...
(7), camel drum (7), large/small derabukka/darabukka/darabekaGoblet drumThe goblet drum is a hand drum with a goblet shape used mostly in the Middle East, North Africa, and Eastern Europe....
(14), handclapping (14) - Dimitry Kyryakou – bouzoukiBouzoukiThe bouzouki , is a musical instrument with Greek origin in the lute family. A mainstay of modern Greek music, the front of the body is flat and is usually heavily inlaid with mother-of-pearl. The instrument is played with a plectrum and has a sharp metallic sound, reminiscent of a mandolin but...
(7, 11, 14), vocals (5 intro), arranger (11) - Jacek Tuschewski – vocals (5, 12)
- The Victorian Philharmonic Orchestra – full orchestra (1-4, 7), woodwind section (10, 12-13)
Technical
- Lisa GerrardLisa GerrardLisa Gerrard is an Australian musician, singer, and composer who rose to prominence as part of the music group Dead Can Dance with former music partner Brendan Perry....
– producer (all), engineer (5-6, 8-9, 11, 14-16) at Gerrard Studio (Gippsland, Australia) - Jacek Tuschewski – engineer (5-6, 8-9, 11, 14-16) at Gerrard Studio (Gippsland, Australia)
- Robin Gray – engineer (orchestra 1-4, 7) at Eaton Studio (Melbourne, Australia)
- Garry Havrillay – engineer (woodwind 10, 12-13) at ABC Studios (Melbourne, Australia)
- Guy Charbonneau – mixing (all)
- Charlie Bouis – mixing assistance (all)
Graphical
- Jacek Tuschewski – front cover art
- Dennis Keeley – sleeve photography (portrait)
- Chris Bigg – sleeve design
Acknowledgements
- Ivo Watts-RussellIvo Watts-RussellIvo Watts-Russell was joint-founder with Peter Kent of the English indie record label 4AD. He has also produced several records, himself preferring to use the term "musical director" to explain his role in the creation....
(founder of 4AD), Nanette and John Gerrard, Michael Atkinson - "thank you [...] for their invaluable efforts" - Dolby Model 740 Spectral Processor (courtesy Dolby LaboratoriesDolby LaboratoriesDolby Laboratories, Inc. , often shortened to Dolby Labs, is an American company specializing in audio noise reduction and audio encoding/compression.-History:...
) - sonic enhancement (all)
External links
- Official album page with samples
- The Mirror Pool at Dead-Can-Dance.com