Composer's Insights
"Concerning the original version of The Mirror; I created it when I began getting into digital film making.
I'd been previously shooting and editing on film and I was getting the hang of Final Cut.
I specifically wanted to make something that was audio/visual as opposed to sound-tracking a film or a music video.
When revisiting it last year the focus was the audio. I have a much better knowledge of video editing now and wanted to apply this sonically.
I wanted to give The Mirror a more dynamic feel for someone listening without the visuals.The structure remains close to the original but this time round it's more immersive - at least to my ears."
- Zan Lyons
Terrifying Sonic Realism
Zan Lyons' 'The Mirror II' is a piece of electronic music which chills the listener's very soul.
Its Matrix-like sound world comprises terrifying sonic realism.
An unsuspecting listener may mistake the experience for a real-world encounter when hearing Zan's pragmatic machine dialogue and futuristic sound design.
Unforgiving Sonic Textures
Zan's use of distortion and saturation is rivalled only by Frequent & Hudson Lee's 'Forest Fires'
His authentic sound world consists of highly unique and masterfully crafted sounds & textures, which are provocative in timbre.
Incredible Tension
The piece begins with several layered elements, in an atonal harmonic palette which sounds like the residual buzzing of a machine environment with many components.
With the striking of the first percussive element; this sound world builds quickly, seeing the addition of multiple layers with each new phrase.
Some layers bend upward to further increase the already overflowing suspense.
This complex atmosphere is then broken down into what sounds like a hovering, speaking machine.
Seldom, if ever, have such sounds been heard in film or music.
These are not sounds that you can download in a sample library.
The atmosphere grows tense with distortion and saturation before exploding into a rhythmically displaced beat of sorts, which is made up not of drums, but what sound like machines, and electrical currents & signals.
The piece is concluded with the same types of atmospheric sounds it began with - all commanding in their composition.
A Visual Experience
The Mirror II is the type of piece which paints an inner-narrative for the listener.
The authenticity of its sound world gives it this quality.
It is packed with exciting moments of sounds emerging from sounds, intense layering and futuristic design.
This is a piece for the true lover of electronic art music.
