Ott - Mir

1. One Day I Wish To Have This Kind Of Time

2. Adrift In Hilbert Space

3. Owl Stretching Time

4. Squirrel And Biscuits

5. A Nice Little Place

6. Mouse Eating Cheese

7. The Aubergine Of The Sun

There aren't many psychedelic dub acts out there, not to my knowledge at least. The only one I can actually think of is Ott. With classics such as Blumenkraft and Hallucinogen in Dub on his credentials, this is no no light weight fighter, and if you don't believe that, the bass lines will prove it to you. Ott is an artist that isn't serious, although I do not doubt his sincerity, it only takes a moment to realize that this guy has tremendous humor with track names like “Jack's Cheese And Bread Snack “, “Billy The Kid Strikes Back “, “Roflcopter “ and maybe the best track name I've ever encountered “Adrift In Hilbert Space”.

Speaking of Hilbert Space, you all know what that is like right? No? Then let me explain, let's take an electron and confine it into a circumscribed section in Hilbert Space, then imagine that this volume is reduced into a smaller and smaller space. As the space gets smaller and smaller surrounding the electron, the electron will start to feel frustrated, not able to express itself to it's fullest content. This will throw the poor little electron in a frenzy, moving faster and faster in more and more erratic patterns, there have even been sightings of electrons getting frustrated to such a degree by the violation of their freedom that some have actually crossed solid physical barriers. But let's now imagine that we limit this space with a material that even the most frustrated electron can't cross, then we accelerate the cube that we confined the electron in up to the speed of light, only to stop it to a halt in the fraction of a second, we throw it into a black hole, we let it twist and spin, integrate and disintegrate. During all this process the electron itself has gone into the most erratic and frenzied behavior known in the whole of Hilbert Space. Well, if you can picture this, then you have an adequate depiction of what it is like listening to some of the tracks on Mir.

In plain English this simply means that there is amazing talent and skill fused into some tracks on this album. I'm thinking especially of tracks 3 and 4, “Owl Stretching Time” and “Squirrel and Bisquits”. The universe is a celebration that existence is, and Mir is a celebration that the universe is.

Ott's former album, Skylon was an album imbued with a great sense of humbleness. If I am not mistaken, this album was made shortly before, during or after Ott became a father. And I think that this gift of life (not that I would know anything about it) is depicted on that album, the music is very soft, tender and sweet, and if music could show you color (which I think it can with the help of adequate substances) then the music on Skylon would be pink. Mir still contains some of that essence but is a much more groovy and energetic album.

If you're interested in hearing the album out and/or buying it head over to http://ottsonic.bandcamp.com/