Mind Over Mirrors

Jaime Fennelly, once a participant in the experimental noise rock trio Peeesseye, generates immersive, meditative drones under the Mind Over Mirrors alias. These arise from a distorted Indian harmonium, pulsating analog synthesizers, and an array of electronic effects. The resulting pieces convey warmth, vibrancy, and emotion while revealing unmistakable real-time, hands-on shaping instead of programmed construction. Fennelly launched the project in the late 2000s during his residence on an island in Washington’s Salish Sea. Early 2011 brought the first releases: the cassette High & Upon on Gift Tapes and the LP The Voice Rolling through Digitalis.

Further activity followed in 2012 with the LP Check Your Swing on Hands in the Dark, the 7" single Near Your Dwelling via Dirty Knobby, the limited tape Small Portion from Digitalis, and Aguirre Records’ vinyl reissue of High & Upon. The project’s most celebrated statement to date arrived in 2013 with the excellent When the Rest Are Up at Four on Immune Recordings.

Fennelly initiated a collaboration in 2014 with Circuit des Yeux, the Chicago-based experimental folk artist Haley Fohr. The pair toured extensively and tracked the full-length The Voice Calling. Immune issued the album on cassette in early 2015 and on vinyl later that year. In 2017 Mind Over Mirrors joined the roster of folk label Paradise of Bachelors and delivered Undying Color, a full-band recording that enlisted Fohr, Janet Bean of Freakwater, Jim Becker of Califone, and percussionist Jon Mueller.

Most of those same musicians appear on Bellowing Sun, an ambitious song cycle three years in preparation. Paradise of Bachelors released the album in 2018, and it received its first public performance at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago on the day of release.