Zaïmph - Mirage of the Other |Gipsy Sphinx|

While I'm complaining about the lack of a Double Leopards release this year, group member Marcia Bassett keeps herself extremely busy as one half of Hototogisu, a third of GHQ or solo under her Zaïmph moniker. If you allow me to filter her most satisfying 2006 releases for you, be sure to check out Hototogisu's recent De Stijl release, Chimärendämmerung and her Zaïmph album on Hospital, Sexual Infinity, for a bunch of abbrassive slabs of harsh Bassett drone.

I snatched this LP at the Pauze festival last weekend, lured in by it's magnificently luxurious sleeve and the lush font in which Zaïmph and the albumtitle is printed. Silly, maybe, and I do love all these spraypainted, xeroxed, handmade whatevers, but it's refreshing to see a label pay this much attention to packaging. Speaking of said label, Gipsy Sphinx is a new player in the rich Belgian underground scene, already making an impact with a superb set of debut releases, Axolotl's Chemical Theatre and Nordic Visions by The Vanishing Voice.

Mirage of the Other is pressed on thick black vinyl accompanied by two lovely designed inserts presenting the tracks. No sides printed on the vinyl itself though so I'm just going by my gut feeling when I speak of side A or B, ok? Ok. Side A (oh the doubt!) starts off with subtle layers of low end humming, sounding like vocals but these could just as well be synthesized, doesn't really matter in the end. It's a much more subtle affair than Sexual Infinity is, a shadow of that record, crawling nose first through swamps infested with dark green algae. Halfway through traces of guitar start to pop up, weaving shimmering patterns of foggy, acoustic ambience. The backdrop of luscious droneage keeps going all the way through, layer upon layer like Sahara dust covering Algerian desert roads.

Side B maintains those steady waves, still deepened by hints of guitar and vague mantra's buried beneath oxygen-poor mud. Unlike those earlier mentioned releases, Mirage of the Other remains a bit shy. Never culminating into something remotely as interesting as the live shows she pulls off, which are really unlike anything she's put on record and I'm still waiting for something to top that.