Maybe Mental – Lotuses On Fire

MAYBE MENTAL use rhythm and structure, compose pieces of music which are sufficiently experimental enough to please anyone looking for that something different. To describe what they do in ten words or less would be impossible, and here, with almost unlimited space, I hardly know where to begin. Okay, so this isn't machine music - this isn't grey cold mechanical Industrial sprawls, but it is certainly cousin to these music types. Imagine early THROBBING GRISTLE, ASMUS TIETCHENS, JOHN ZORN, DOME and PESSARY getting together to create an album of 'Folk' music? And not using any traditional instruments to do it. And then getting sidetracked by an unstructured Jazz with SUN RA dropping by to add his two penneth. And LALO SCHAFFRIN inflicting his 70s incidental soundtrack approach into the mix. Get HOLGER CZUKAY to mix the resulting sound down with IVO WATTS circa the first THIS MORTAL COIL album pestering him with advice. Maybe you'd end up with something like this - maybe something completely different. Sometimes it sounds like DEAD CAN DANCE (especially with SU LING's beautiful voice) - sometimes it's cinematic - sometimes just plain bizarre. But whether they are exploring the trash cans of experimentalism, or the pristine palaces of Eternal Beauty, they always keep the listener transfixed, and waiting in anticipation for what might be around the next audio corner.
The zeitgeist seems to be that the most creative people around whole-heartedly embrace any new genre that comes along and inject very little creative inspiration into it. Drum 'n' Bass is a fine example, with half the globe's creative potential having to use very similar rhythms; PSYCHIC TV play Techno; MICK HARRIS plays Drum 'n' Bass; expect ZOVIET FRANCE's karaoke album to hit the shops by Christmas. Specific genres become stale almost the instant they are established. At least here, on this album, before they became LIFE GARDEN, these folks were bloody original. Taste this, indulge in this, hell - deify this - it is purity of creation and should be venerated. It's high quality, pristine and pure. Leave genre plagiarism to the likes of BJÖRK - and invest in this audio collection of dreams and nightmares.

Late Eighties music from the people responsible for LIFE GARDEN. Stranger, more experimental, more electronic-ambient than their later music.

Originally reviewed for Soft Watch.