“Mise En Abyme” means “put into the abyss” in French, and in Western art history it is a formal technique of placing a copy of an image within itself, often in a way that suggests an infinitely recurring sequence. It occurs in photography and film, and in art, like Rene Magritte’s. At almost half an hour a side, Taylorshit.net’s new album is something of a concept album, an art collage, that can act as background music, but might be better as a trippy meditation on the images and concepts that repeat ad infinitum in us and in the world.
“Suffocation in my dreams / let me out,” the vocals repeat towards the end of the first track, “Victoria.” It has the frenchiest of instruments, the accordion, throughout most of the 25 minute track. Perhaps recalling some of the surreal art or film of France. But there’s also satisfying and adventurous guitars, bass, and drums at different points in the track as well. “Victoria / she’s one of us.” Each person will have a different scene, perhaps repeating in their mind, as the song plays. But as humans we all share in the same ever-repeating mental machinations. Like a lot of art, you have to get beyond the need for pretty bows and just go with the flow.
The second track, “BonIvermectin,” (hilarious title,) starts with drilling noises, fit for a dentist’s chair or a construction site, that is to say, a bit unsettling. And then the poetry comes in, over a sparse musical composition. “Under the bridge lives the fish / Whatever you can forget / to the other side / to realize // it wasn’t what you wanted.” The poetry plays on both sides of desire and expectation, getting and not getting what you wanted, though the poetry is abstract enough to let you enter the poem wherever you want to. The first half of the track has noises like pouring water and hammers pounding. But the second half of the song is an instrumental interlude, something like a folky Neurosis, perhaps, even with a simple harmonica playing over top for most of it and a smooth saxophone at times. It’s a beautiful piece of music that I think would play well in a live space.
Overall, with its sound- and wordscape, “Mise En Abyme” is a surreal trip, that somehow takes you through the maze of your mind, while making it an outward, shared experience with the many creators who made it as well. Like French surrealist film or art, it is meant to give you a break from your thoughts, it seems, while subtly mirroring your thoughts back to you in a new, maybe deeper way. Because of its length and abstraction, it’s not for everybody; but I enjoyed the trippy trip. It is less founded in the canon of music than their last album, something that makes me appreciate this collective of musicians and their broad range of ability artistically. Like the cover art, this is a meal for the hungry mind that is sick of eating itself, and you can go as deep into it as your mind allows you to.
Prism Reviews 