Michele Mercure - Beside Herself

  • Though made mostly in the '80s, this compilation of kosmische-leaning cuts still resonates today.
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  • "Telling a story is important," Michele Mercure told Legowelt's Shadow Wolf Cyberzine. "The music can be the kind of music where maybe each person hears a different story, but there is a vibe and an emotion, and a flavour to it, that people can resonate to." When Mercure's Eye Chant was reissued in 2017 by Freedom To Spend, it introduced us to a fascinating figure at the fringes of the American underground. Mercure might not have been positioned in any big-city scene, but her music resonated nevertheless. Beside Herself, an excellent compilation drawn from four cassettes released between 1983 and 1990, tells several stories. It offers a glimpse into the small-yet-diverse early '80s underground cassette culture; of art- and music-making in the relative seclusion of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; of what American kosmische sounded like. Beside Herself reveals Mercure to be a curious listener and tireless experimenter. As she states later in the same interview, "I started out as a guitar player and also as a visual artist, painting and that kind of stuff. Instead of painting a picture, I am painting an environment of sound." So while programmed drums, steady loops and sequenced keyboards make up most of the tracks, they never quite stay on grid, instead acting like bits of smeared paint. A crunchy bit of drum patter that opens "A Little Piece" goes through an array of filters, with gleaming synths twinkling around it. "Dreamplay 2" features a plucked mbira line, some slinking bass and the gentlest of electronics behind it, contemplative and charming. "Beside Myself" splices up all sorts of samples—a car crash, a breaking glass and laughter—making something as complex and playful as Art Of Noise. Even when it reminds you of other artists, Mercure's music often sounds singular. "No More Law In Gotham City" is a spliced scramble of a newscast that might have hypnotized the likes of Brion Gysin and William S. Burroughs and unsettled most others. The keyboard melody midway through "A Void Dance" anticipates grime by a good 20 years. In other moments, Mercure is harder to pin down, forging ahead into a musical space all her own. "Dinosaur Dancing" has the gentle melancholia of classic kosmische, but the itchy guitar line that Mercure introduces midway through adds an uneasiness to the proceedings. Whatever track you dip into on Beside Herself, Mercure's imagination shines through.
  • Tracklist
      01. A Little Piece 02. Ghosts Before Breakfast 03. Dreamplay 2 04. Beside Myself 05. Liberation Day 06. The Sky Is Falling 07. Beginning 08. No More Law In Gotham City 09. Time Piece 10. A Void Dance 11. Mother 12. Beside Herself 13. Dinosaur Dancing 14. An Accident Waiting To Happen 15. Reverie 16. De Dunk 17. Night Music 18. Antigone 19. Antarctica
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