Half Mirror

Description

On his debut album Half Mirror, Matthew O'Connell layers warm analog synths over confessional folk for a result that is at once cosmic and terrestrial. Recorded at home in the mountains of North Carolina using a vintage tape recorder, electric guitar, and a self-built synthesizer, Half Mirror is as much electronic ebb and flow humanized by folk elements as it is folk music made by aliens with electronic embellishments. Raised on a farm in Palmyra, Indiana, Matthew developed a passion for metal drumming and spent most of his free time practicing in the garage, occasionally recording on four-track tape recorders with his brother Joe (Elephant Micah). From these formative years, he essentially retained two attributes: being able to focus for a long period and to work obsessively on something in solitude. These monastic inclinations helped shape the spirit of Half Mirror. In 2011, his interest in electronics and engineering led him to Asheville, North Carolina, where he worked for Moog Music manufacturing and calibrating synthesizers. At night, he spent his time building homemade synths and writing songs. It was here, in Asheville, that he began the bulk of the work on Half Mirror. O'Connell made a deliberate effort to keep the album's production sparse. His interest in restraint partly stems from his love of albums like Tricky's Nearly God and Songs: Ohia's Ghost Tropic, both of which feature an uncomfortably naked vocal and eerie production that grab the listener's attention. Further inspiration came from the striking minimalism of Mark Hollis and the free composition of Arthur Russell and John Martyn. Filtering the poetry of fractured and imperfect memories through a lush yet sparse sonic palette, Half Mirror evokes a particular space: the thick fog on mountain peaks, the dew present on morning walks, and the musky scent of rhododendrons in the air.