Musician, producer and photographer Patrick Sansone had planned to make use of his collection of synthesizers in some form of project for a while, but it wasn’t until 2017 that he began engaging with new creative processes to recapture the spirit and energy he felt when initially discovering the instruments. To achieve this, he focussed on spontaneous creation; practically this meant taking several synthesizers (a maximum of four per session) and setting aside a series of evenings for recording, with no planning ahead, allowing each composition to retain its own unique mood and identity through what he calls “sonic sand-painting.”
Sansone has a demanding schedule (he’s a member of Wilco, The Autumn Defence, a producer and photographer) and as such the recordings from the initial 2017 recording sessions were only revisited in 2021 after which he resolved to eventually share the work with others. He was further spurred on a few months later when he received John Pfahl’s photography book Altered Landscapes (1981); on opening it to a random page he realised that the photo “Salt Lake Angles” should be the cover to his then unfinished album. Inspired by the image, he went on to record additional compositions.
Four of the six pieces on Infinity Mirrors are from the 2017 sessions, with the remaining two from the later recordings. Across the album we can hear a range of Sansone’s favourite synths, including the Roland Jupiter-8, MiniMoog Model D, Sequential Circuits Prophet-10, the Mellotron D4000 and Teenage Engineering OP1.
These are strictly instrumentals tracks, but there is interesting variety and plenty to stimulate the listener. “Measures” has a slow build to intensity. “Laughing Abyss” could be the theme to a lost 70s sci-fi film, with “Jupiter Removed” the sound of a gently industrial planet. The twinkly “Dream Molecule” contrasts with the dark tones of “Phosphenes”, and the meditative “Press to Null” may well help those feeling a little stressed.
Available on vinyl, cassette (limited to 100) and download.
Label: Centripetal Force
Release Date: 01 MAR 2024
Poetic Justice 