Christian Mirande - Beautiful One Day, Perfect The Next

Some significant AOTY noise circling around this one. We've only just stepped into May so i'll withhold my judgment for a few more months, but some records do capture the imagination straight out the gate and Christrian Mirande's latest, a first time vinyl release for Regional Bears no less, certainly feels like a contender. No surprise, really, considering Mirande's history with some of the US underground's finest institutions - Hanson, Recital, Ascetic House et al - though Beautiful One Day, Perfect the Next does feel especially rounded and sharply conceived. We've a record of two halves, the first side a series of shortform musique concrete digressions built from voice notes, tape manipulations, and some fluid, abstract bass playing that had me thinking of that great Kontakta album snapped off into miniatures, while the second is a totemic singular piece that's a bit of a sui generis moment for Mirande. 15 minutes of chiming electronics and swirling ambience, fretless bass, and synthesised spoken word that makes unavoidable nods to Robert Ashley/Blue Gene Tyranny, and recalls the conceptual application of James Ferraro circa NYC, Hell 3am, all whilst retaining a refreshing accessibility. There's also some particularly effective interplay between the processed and the organic, like the sound of the mulch of synthetic soil or swaying of plastic grass, a venturing of some kind into the uncanny valley where Mirande's lopsided world is captured in a fairground mirror. It's off centre and abstract, but demanding of repeated viewings. What it all means is anyone's guess, and it's that ambiguity that'll most likely be the thing that keeps this one hanging around all year.