Mirage

Earthen Sea is the long-time solo project of Jacob Long, an elusive San Francisco artist who's been quietly releasing meditative cassettes over the last decade. Mirage, his debut EP for Lovers Rock is a deeply personal journey through a crackling, immersive sound world unlike any other.

Recorded in private sessions either late at night or just after dawn, the music on Mirage is pulsing with life yet mesmerizingly still. A hypnotic kick provides the backbone for a rich harmonic and textural language, driving unspooling chords through a thick, gray ether. A-side pair "Saharan Desert" and "Velvet Grey" are guided most directly by the bass drum, with occasional splashes of dubbed out percussion flashing into the foreground like waves on a harsh, windy stretch of the Northern California Pacific coast. The B-side clears out for "Opaque Oasis" and "Venus." The former seems to vanish in front of your eyes, each element receding deeper and deeper into the mix; the latter stunningly reprises the sighing chords from "Saharan Desert" while forgoing the beat entirely. Perhaps saving the best for last, "Venus" exhibits the most raw emotion of any of these songs and is a breathtaking finale to a flawless debut. Lovers Rock proudly presents Earthen Sea's Mirage, an ecstatic and utterly singular work.