Between Coordinates is the latest release by MieMiedos, a Chinese artist creating experimental music through electronics, in her own words “exploring new modes of perception through sound”.
The album opens with Elsewhere, a melodic track composed of bell-like tones and complex rhythms, skewed samples and rising and falling percussion. Samples and other elements undergo precise manipulation, evolving the piece into an abstract dance number with pulsing kicks. MieMiedos describes the album as a record of movement between places, and there is definitely a feeling of propulsion in the ensuing moments.
The second title track begins with an abrasive synth melody, similar to a phone dial tone. It evolves into a playful but discordant melody. The artist’s processes involve sampling, sequencing and sound manipulation, allowing her creative self to experiment and explore, creating new worlds from the environment she finds herself in, whether it is sounds from a nearby school, or sounds she makes herself at another place entirely, such as in 黄不拉叽Muddy Yellow. The tracks on the EP never venture beyond 3 or 4 minutes in length, showing MieMiedos’s skill at recognising each track as complete and keeping her ideas concise, this results in a very digestible release despite the chaotic nature of each piece.
The final track The Orange On The Pillar references the image on the cover, and is perhaps the more accessible of the tracks on Between Coordinates. The swarming bee-like synths provide great accompaniment to the driving beat, with sixteenth percussive tones wavering over the track, closing the release with the same sense of playfulness that it began.
The result is a spirited release, displaying MieMiedos’s expertise in sound manipulation, arrangement and her curiosity about the world around her, much like the dried out orange in the cover artwork. She isn’t afraid to take apart her world, reclaim the sounds that surround her and rebuild them into a new sonic form.