Mice on Stilts - An Ocean Held Me (2013)
EAC Rip | FLAC (tracks & cue & log) | 187 MB | MP3 CBR 320 kbps | 77 MB | Full Artwork(PNG) | 105 MB | 33:40
Genre: Progressive Rock/Crossover Prog | Country: New Zealand | Label: Allgood Absolute Alternative Records (No Catalog Number)
EAC Rip | FLAC (tracks & cue & log) | 187 MB | MP3 CBR 320 kbps | 77 MB | Full Artwork(PNG) | 105 MB | 33:40
Genre: Progressive Rock/Crossover Prog | Country: New Zealand | Label: Allgood Absolute Alternative Records (No Catalog Number)
Mice on Stilts, a New Zealand-based band, consist of eight members. They are Sam Hennessy (viola), Aaron Longville (sax and trumpet), Tim Burrows (bass), Brendan Zwaan (piano), Rob Sanders (drums), Ben Morley (guitar and vocalist), Joseph Jujnovich (vocal effects) and Calvin Davidson (synth and sax). The band calls their music “doom-folk,” which describes it best, because their sound is a hybrid of different genres working within its own realm of beats and tones.
Their EP An Ocean Held Me demonstrates the same passion and production as a five-act play. This gives its gritty-darkness a theatrical atmosphere. Every aspect of the album - the vocals, instruments, even the cover - feels carefully crafted, as layer upon layer peels to reveal a new part of the story.
The driving and unifying force behind An Ocean Held Me is the ocean imagery, and the figurative and metaphorical idea of it. In many tracks, they represent rebirth and death in its many forms. Songs begin simple, with one instrument taking the forefront, e.g. piano, violin, saxophone, etc., but eventually it builds into varying instrumental depths. This is a possible representation of the life process: the first breath (initial instrument) turns into the different elements of life (additional instruments) until one reaches death (end of song).
Every track on An Ocean Held Me fits within the album like a necessary key to unlock its story. “Binocular Bath” and “A Moss Ocean” work as companion pieces. They have similar messages of mourning, loss and death, along with ghostly sound effects. They differ in their approach to the same subject. “A Moss Ocean” takes a quiet path with the serene beauty of the piano. On the other hand, “Binocular Bath” starts slow but builds into a full force of musical emotions. Just as “A Moss Ocean” and “Binocular Bath” work as companions, “Syd’s Socks” and “Vulnerable Vader” act as bookends to each other. “Syd’s Socks” begins An Ocean Held Me like a rush towards the ocean, an embrace, but “Vulnerable Vader” runs from it, regretfully but necessarily. “Vulnerable Vader” felt like the concluding song, making “Tuatara Lawn” the epilogue.
Each track on An Ocean Held Me builds complex instrumental stories. As mentioned previously, they all begin with simplicity, relying on one instrument or note, and then they pile on varying sounds and peaks. The instruments and vocals shine in this album’s platform. Morley and Jujnovich’s voice and effects collaboration create a hard, yet incredibly vulnerable, tone to the tracks. Morley sings with clear diction and power, which brings the poetry of the An Ocean Held Me to life.
An Ocean Held Me by Mice on Stilts creates a musical experience only achieved with careful planning and a dedication to raw, emotional musical honesty.
Tracklist:
1. Syd's Socks (4:09)
2. Binocular Bath (5:21)
3. A Moss Ocean (5:37)
4. Vulnerable Vader (5:56)
5. Tuatara Lawn (12:36)
Exact Audio Copy V1.0 beta 1 from 15. November 2010
EAC extraction logfile from 25. August 2014, 20:21
Mice on Stilts / An Ocean Held Me
Used drive : SlimtypeDVD A DS8A4S Adapter: 1 ID: 0
Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No
Read offset correction : 6
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Installed external ASPI interface
Gap handling : Appended to previous track
Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 896 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files\Exact Audio Copy\Flac\flac.exe
Additional command line options : -8 -V -T "ARTIST=%a" -T "TITLE=%t" -T "ALBUM=%g" -T "DATE=%y" -T "TRACKNUMBER=%n" -T "GENRE=%m" -T "COMMENT=EAC Secure Mode, Test & Copy, AccurateRip, FLAC -8" %s
TOC of the extracted CD
Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 4:09.25 | 0 | 18699
2 | 4:09.25 | 5:21.25 | 18700 | 42799
3 | 9:30.50 | 5:37.25 | 42800 | 68099
4 | 15:08.00 | 5:56.00 | 68100 | 94799
5 | 21:04.00 | 12:36.00 | 94800 | 151499
Track 1
Filename D:\bzp01\Mice on Stilts - An Ocean Held Me (2013) [FLAC]\01 - Syd's Socks.wav
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Peak level 98.8 %
Extraction speed 2.4 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC EEB9DFAF
Copy CRC EEB9DFAF
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 2
Filename D:\bzp01\Mice on Stilts - An Ocean Held Me (2013) [FLAC]\02 - Binocular Bath.wav
Peak level 98.8 %
Extraction speed 2.9 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 6C236293
Copy CRC 6C236293
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 3
Filename D:\bzp01\Mice on Stilts - An Ocean Held Me (2013) [FLAC]\03 - A Moss Ocean.wav
Peak level 98.8 %
Extraction speed 3.3 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 29097DD0
Copy CRC 29097DD0
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 4
Filename D:\bzp01\Mice on Stilts - An Ocean Held Me (2013) [FLAC]\04 - Vulnerable Vader.wav
Peak level 98.8 %
Extraction speed 3.2 X
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC AD02A1C5
Copy CRC AD02A1C5
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 5
Filename D:\bzp01\Mice on Stilts - An Ocean Held Me (2013) [FLAC]\05 - Tuatara Lawn.wav
Peak level 98.8 %
Extraction speed 4.4 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 93F86DEB
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Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
None of the tracks are present in the AccurateRip database
No errors occurred
End of status report
==== Log checksum 4234D1958615EA515E55770FAF8E9E4992B2DE1D3C942D9C2EB7FFF859F9450B ====
EAC extraction logfile from 25. August 2014, 20:21
Mice on Stilts / An Ocean Held Me
Used drive : SlimtypeDVD A DS8A4S Adapter: 1 ID: 0
Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No
Read offset correction : 6
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Installed external ASPI interface
Gap handling : Appended to previous track
Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 896 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files\Exact Audio Copy\Flac\flac.exe
Additional command line options : -8 -V -T "ARTIST=%a" -T "TITLE=%t" -T "ALBUM=%g" -T "DATE=%y" -T "TRACKNUMBER=%n" -T "GENRE=%m" -T "COMMENT=EAC Secure Mode, Test & Copy, AccurateRip, FLAC -8" %s
TOC of the extracted CD
Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 4:09.25 | 0 | 18699
2 | 4:09.25 | 5:21.25 | 18700 | 42799
3 | 9:30.50 | 5:37.25 | 42800 | 68099
4 | 15:08.00 | 5:56.00 | 68100 | 94799
5 | 21:04.00 | 12:36.00 | 94800 | 151499
Track 1
Filename D:\bzp01\Mice on Stilts - An Ocean Held Me (2013) [FLAC]\01 - Syd's Socks.wav
Pre-gap length 0:00:02.00
Peak level 98.8 %
Extraction speed 2.4 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC EEB9DFAF
Copy CRC EEB9DFAF
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 2
Filename D:\bzp01\Mice on Stilts - An Ocean Held Me (2013) [FLAC]\02 - Binocular Bath.wav
Peak level 98.8 %
Extraction speed 2.9 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 6C236293
Copy CRC 6C236293
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 3
Filename D:\bzp01\Mice on Stilts - An Ocean Held Me (2013) [FLAC]\03 - A Moss Ocean.wav
Peak level 98.8 %
Extraction speed 3.3 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 29097DD0
Copy CRC 29097DD0
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 4
Filename D:\bzp01\Mice on Stilts - An Ocean Held Me (2013) [FLAC]\04 - Vulnerable Vader.wav
Peak level 98.8 %
Extraction speed 3.2 X
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC AD02A1C5
Copy CRC AD02A1C5
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 5
Filename D:\bzp01\Mice on Stilts - An Ocean Held Me (2013) [FLAC]\05 - Tuatara Lawn.wav
Peak level 98.8 %
Extraction speed 4.4 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 93F86DEB
Copy CRC 93F86DEB
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
None of the tracks are present in the AccurateRip database
No errors occurred
End of status report
==== Log checksum 4234D1958615EA515E55770FAF8E9E4992B2DE1D3C942D9C2EB7FFF859F9450B ====
Personnel
- Sam Hennessy / Viola
- Aaron Longville / Saxophone/Trumpet
- Rob Sander/ Drums
- Sam Nash / Bass
- Nick Wright / Piano/Rhodes/Vocals
- Joseph Jujnovich / Vocal Effects
- Ben Morley / Guitar/Vocals
Produced by Tim Burrows
Recorded and mixed at Albatross Studio by Tim Burrows except for drums and bass recorded by
Vivek Gabriel at Wee Orange Studios Mastered by Vivek Gabriel Artwork by Liam Jackson
All thanks to bzp01