Brett Naucke's new LP Mirror Ensemble - created with Windy City mainstays Natalie Chami (TALsounds) and Whitney Johnson (Matchess) - is Naucke at his compositional and conceptual best. Marking a major departure from his earlier, fully synth-based output, Mirror Ensemble is a synthesizer record, an orchestral record, even a soundtrack. Naucke used scenes from Andrei Tarkovsky's foundational 1975 film The Mirror as a signpost for mood and atmosphere, where the trio used specific images from the film as guides for improvisations, overlaid on Naucke's modular synthesizer and other pre-composed sections. It paid off: Mirror Ensemble is bold and beautiful, demonstrating the peak possibilities of focused creation and trust in those closest to you. It's a fierce burst into new territory, and with Naucke's adventurous, ambitious writing and recording, there's no telling where his attention will turn next. 1) Vanity Well 2) The Glass Shifting 3) A Look That Tells Time 4) Catch Your Breath 5) Parallax 6) Rose Water 7) Sleep With Your Windows Open 8) Late-Century Reflection
