Song pages
Side 1
Song One Is a Lie
Circling the Canopies
Melt Spun
Virginia’s Peach Party Loaf, with Two Walnuts
Lost Within This Time
My Spare Keys
Side 2
Quality Mirrors
Poet of the Mic
7000 Sparks
Nearest Pool of Chaos
The Emotion Right in Front of Me
Overview
This album has as many vocal tracks as it does in large part because I would send one-shot karaoke performances to my friend Nick Merchant (who shows up on the first song as well), and he as a Restless Mosaic fan wanted me to sing on the next album. I had a spate of decent lyric writing and things snowballed from there. But it’s weird, because I associated my own vocals with my prior music project – back when I knew a lot less about doing any of this sort of thing well – and was reluctant to deal with that past gunk. Also, I loathe vocal production; the type of detail one has to care about drains me of energy. But I also like telling unique stories, and a lot of people like their songs with humans in them. Swings and roundabouts?
Musically – and maybe this is unusual – I took a lot of cues from having my promoter, Shauna McLarnon of Shameless Promotions, lined up early. Since she represents a fair amount of my secondary influences, like Lisa Gerrard and Jah Wobble, I figured I might as well lean into those influences in the name of better promotion. Being PR mates is the closest I have to being label mates, so that’s easy enough.
Some press about it
The big thing is this video interview with Graham Coath, one of the best things I’ve ever gotten to be a part of:
And there’s this equally lovely interview with DJ Nocturna, focusing on lead single “Lost Within This Time” but going to several other places as well:
As for written album reviews, here are some:
“Quality Mirrors is a shimmering testament to sonic artistry. This meticulously crafted collection makes for an album that invites listeners to explore the liminal spaces between genres. Brandon Isleib’s vision, to weave disparate sounds into a cohesive whole, is realized with immersive finesse.” – Spill Magazine
“Quality Mirrors is a complex and organic mosaic of sound, with each track contributing considerably to the album’s overall experience. Isleib combines ambient beauty, experimental forms, and melodic drive, resulting in an album that invites deep listening and rewards those who explore its depths.” – Skylight.gr
“[A]n ever-shifting array of sounds and styles, mixing and matching and melding and merging of a myriad of musical forms, many of which generally have no business being in the vicinity of each other. […] It’s a beguiling album, not only in terms of its musical originality but also in the almost philosophical nature of its themes. When did electronic music become so clever?” – Dave Franklin, The Big Takeover
“[W]ith every listen Quality Mirrors exposed revelation in creativity and thought, becoming insistently more compelling and even with some tracks more striking than others for personal taste, every second of the release had ears and the imagination hungrily alive.” – Ringmaster Review
First song: Song One Is a Lie
restlessmosaic.com 