Fata Morgana is a lovely CDR of mysterious and dream-like proportions from Stuart Chalmers, a UK genius who we have encountered briefly in the past such as on his 2012 release for LF Records called Daydream Empire which made this listener feel as though “everything appears slightly askew” in the world. Chalmers, who also records as DJ Crackle and Skarabee, may do it by use of cassette tapes as source material which I would hope are mangled and repurposed in various unorthodox ways, although even “mangle” might be too strong a word. If there was a way to turn a frog inside-out and back again without leaving a scar, you might have one of Chalmers’ recipes in your exercise book. He describes himself as a “sound scavenger”, which is no less evocative, conjuring up image of a sonic dung-beetle rolling his collection of things around the ground in a big ball. Most of these eight tunes appear gentle and beguiling at first and then gradually change quite profoundly as they pass through the mirror of surrealism as owned by Di Chirico. Titles such as ‘Deja Reve’, ‘In The Mystery Of Sleep’ and ‘Psychic Phases’ indicate his interest in the workings of the subconscious mind, and ‘Magnetic Tape Ghosts’ is one clue to his working method. Beautiful package too with suitably vague images and insert also by Stuart. Can’t fault this item in any way; recommended. (24/01/2018)
