Before slotting perfectly into the 4AD’s dreamy roster at the beginning of the 1990s, the Warren/Warn Defever-established His Name Is Alive had already self-released a number of embryonic cassettes like Riotousness and Postrophe and I Had Sex With God. But even before having sex with God, Defever had created scads of bedroom-recorded, idiosyncratic loop- and atmosphere-based tracks. With tape transfer help from Tyvek’s Shelley Salant, a collection of these early analog forays will see the light of day on June 21.
All the Mirrors in the House (Early Recordings 1979-1986) is the first of three planned releases of early material from His Name Is Alive and Disciples.
Known primarily for elegant dreamlike albums on 4AD, Defever has put out an absurd amount of recordings over the past three decades (as HNIA and others, tons of collaborations like the ESP-Summer/-Beetles/-Family series, dozens of CDRs on his own timeSTEREO label, and so on). With All the Mirrors in the House (Early Recordings 1979-1986), we get a glimpse in the world of the teenage Defever, before the many musical twists that his career has taken to date.
All the Mirrors in the House (Early Recordings 1979-1986) is out June 21 and can be pre-ordered on clear vinyl or digital here. Listen to the shimmering beauty of “Because Piano” below.
All the Mirrors in the House (Early Recordings 1979-1986) tracklisting:
01. Piano Rev
02. Lliadin
03. Something About Hope
04. All The Mirrors In The House
05. Because Piano
06. Rememory
07. Tape Sound
08. Guitar Rev
09. Fine as Feathers
10. Reflection Pool
11. Equally Divided
12. Tape Slow
13. Outside the Window
14. Echo Lake
15. F Choir