If I had a penny for each time I put my headphones on with the idea of listening to some relaxing music and I find myself pulled into an extracorporial experience where I float through the cosmic space, listen to the heartbeat of a galaxy, and I then go back to our planet where I become one with the tectonic plates, well I can assure you that by the end of this album I would have an additional penny.
"Mirage", by the Tokyo-based artist Tel Quel, is an enormous album. And I'm not talking about the lenght, although it is not short being around 90 minutes. I'm talking about the sound that seems to penetrate inside your brain and expand its horizons by hundreds of kilometers. I'm talking about the bass notes, that despite having listened to the album with headphones I felt resonating in my chest, similarly to what happens when seeing a rock band live. I'm talking about the multiple layers of sounds that pile upon each other in perfect harmony, each one with its function like the different layers that we find in the skin of a living creature (or the layers of a giant sonic lasagna if you prefer more profane analogies). I'm talking about the instances where only a few instruments are playing but you still perceive their vibrations echoing through vast empty spaces.
It's also an album with a strong cinematic components in my opinion. The tracks are constantly evoking suggestive images of majestic landscapes, clear nocturnal skies, oceanic tempests, lost civilisations from a forgotten time. The presence of sparse angelic vocal lines such as in "Eclipse Sonata" adds to the otherworldly experience. Everything sounds ancient and futuristic at the same time... or maybe it simply sounds timeless?
The incorporation of diverse elemnts (the crunchy basses, the lush pads, the metallic sound effects, the occasional inserts of field recordings) is incredibly organic and cohesive. It really seems like the different sounds came together spontaneusly and merged by symbiosis to sustain each other.
I won't give details on specific tracks because this album has to be experienced as a whole. Trust me, I know it's hard to find 90 minutes in this day and age, but the reward is abolutely worth it.