MICK HARRIS/JOHN EVERALL/NIGEL AYERS

MESMERIC ENABLING DEVICE

 Mesmeric Enabling Device
  1/  Part 1                                     (Harris,Everall,Ayers)        18.12
  2/  Part 2                                     (Harris,Everall,Ayers)        12.29
  3/  Part 3                                     (Harris,Everall,Ayers)        0.20
  4/  Part 4                                     (Harris,Everall,Ayers)        4.29
  5/  Part 5                                     (Harris,Everall,Ayers)        6.02
  6/  Part 6                                     (Harris,Everall,Ayers)        10.25
  7/  Part 7                                     (Harris,Everall,Ayers)        19.28

          Created and mixed in the Box, Birmingham, England and ????
          Tracks 1 and 7 constructed by John Everall and Mick Harris using source material
            supplied by Nigel Ayers
          Tracks 2-6 constructed by Nigel Ayers using source material supplied by John
            Everall and Mick Harris
Mick Harris, John Everall and Nigel Ayers: all sounds.

          1999 - Soleilmoon Recordings (USA), SOL 85 CD (CD)

REVIEWS :

Nigel Ayers (Nocturnal Emissions), John Everall (Tactile) and Mick Harris (Scorn, Lull, etc.) come together via the UK post for this collaborative effort. Tracks 1 and 7 are constructed by Everall/Harris using source material from Ayers and tracks 2-6 are vice versa.  The 2 Everall/Harris constructed pieces are reminiscent of Harris' ambient Lull project:  pt. 1 is a slow, drifting, cloud of rumbling drones and washes and pt. 7 is similar only a bit more abrasive.  Pts. 2 and 6 continue in that vein, but Ayers also adds a subtle keyboard melody and a train track like clanging deep in the mix.  Pt. 3 is a very brief, noisier excerpt with one sharp, distorted sound halfway through ... to wake you back up I suppose.  And pts. 4 and 5 introduce rhythm via a subtle bass line and a skittery, typewriter like percussion.  This collaboration was supposedly so intense that it resulted in Mick Harris deciding to never release another album again and John Everall to seclude himself from contact with the outside world. Yeah, right. "Mesmeric Enabling Device" is enjoyable enough and good for sleepy time but it certainly doesn't blow me away and isn't anything I haven't already heard before.  The Teresa Mills artwork for this disc is disappointing imo, I much prefer her work for Tactile's "Borderlands" and the Harris/Everall collaboration Trace Decay "Dispersion" ...

mark@southwind.net