AW-005: MIRRORDEN – Commune Mirror Studies
Label: Aurora Weltklang
Catalog No.: AW-005
Format: 2×LP (180 g black vinyl)
Original Release Date: October 1972
Edition: 211 copies (single pressing)
Recording Dates: January–March 1972
Recording Location: Herzkammer Studio (Vaults A–C), Freiburg Region
Total Runtime: 80:42
Genres: Communal Electroacoustic Ritual · Kraut-Drone · Industrial Ambient · Free Improv Collage · Acid-Folk Feedback

SIGNAL PRESSURE REVIEW
Commune Mirror Studies is the big one—the sprawling double-LP where MIRRORDEN drop the safety rails and ride momentum, texture, and nerve for eighty relentless minutes. It’s not tidy, but it’s never vague: long drones, hard scrapes, sudden surges, and pockets of hush that feel earned, not staged. File it between krautrock’s free side and the earliest industrial ambience—improvised, physical, and stubbornly alive.

The open: Mirror Fang Field cuts straight to the marrow—Svein’s knife-edge voice over metallic percussion and stressed guitar, the band holding a single charge until it blooms into overtones. Sunburned Oracle Pt I: The Dusk Eyelid stretches into glassy trance: autoharp glint, delay-zither refractions, a low bass pressure that never quite resolves. Flip the disc and Sunburned Oracle Pt II: The Frothing Starling detonates—free-jazz shriek meets sub-floor drone, like Pharaoh Sanders jamming in a machine room.

The middle stretch balances collapse and clarity. Shiver meat Hymnal is a scorched miniature—spit-cut vocals and a lurching, proto-industrial throb. Drift Communion drags the heartbeat way down: suspended shimmer, slow pulse, a calm that feels earned after all that abrasion.

Side C is the crown: Tableau for the Listening Skin—seventeen-plus minutes of feedback braid, loop mass, and tape shear. It’s not about peaks; it’s about sustaining tension until your ear starts hearing new shapes inside the noise. The closer, Memory Shedding Apparatus, lets the machine fail on-mic—dropouts, edges, then a long, dignified dimming. No drama. Just power down.

This is the ISN at full width: bodies, tapes, and room pushing each other around until the strongest idea wins. Not theory. Feel. The double-LP format gives MIRRORDEN enough runway to try everything once and keep only what burns. Half a century on, it still hits like a field report from the edge of a scene learning how loud silence can be.

TECHNICAL INFORMATION & RECORDING SPECIFICATIONS
• Recording Method: Live-to-reel improvisation; no overdubs; manual sync disruption and tape interference as compositional tools
• Tape Format: Grundig TK23L (mono) + UHER 4400 Report S (stereo); sync intentionally unaligned; final sequence assembled from spliced degradation loop
• Mic Setup: Floor-mounted dynamic pair in Vault B; boundary mic in hollow brass bowl; omni pair suspended from ducted rafters
• Outboard: DRV-3 Verdrängung feedback delay (Concord prototype, Ishikawa loan)
• Mixing Environment: No console; live tape-splice/delay feedback loop operated by Krahne & Meer
• Mastering: Gernot Wolff
• Pressing: Roter Vinyl GmbH (Köln); ~11 copies report Side D warp from resin temp shift

TRACKLIST + CUE LOG

Side A – Incantation Field (20:01)
1․ Mirror Fang Field – 06:06
2․ Sunburned Oracle Pt I: The Dusk Eyelid – 13:55

Side B – Fragmented Reveal (24:51)
3․ Sunburned Oracle Pt II: The Frothing Starling – 09:53
4․ Shiver meat Hymnal – 03:28
5․ Drift Communion – 11:30

Side C – Threshold Reduction (17:51)
6․ Tableau for the Listening Skin – 17:51

Side D – Memory Shedding Apparatus (17:59)
7․ Memory Shedding Apparatus – 17:59

Total Runtime: 80:42

INSERTS & VISUAL EPHEMERA
• Gatefold Interior: Silver-ink spiral on matte black, no text
• Fold-Out Insert: Trans Spiral Auditory Map over bird-skull diagrams; Duval’s phase-route sketches
• Artifacts (first 50): Salvaged mic-wire bundle in amber dust, bound with red wax thread
• Center Labels: Hand-etched mirrored glyphs; minor off-center labels on second batch

PHYSICAL RELEASE DETAILS
• Format: 2×LP (180 g); manual lathe alignment for extended side lengths
• Jacket: Matte charcoal stock with silver spiral overlay; no printed artist name on front
• Gatefold Left: Herzkammer vault map with phase/migration arrows (metallic red)
• Gatefold Right: Ductwork composite, tape-path sketches, latency diagrams
• Deadwax Etchings:
 – Side A: “L.MIRROR / V.A”
 – Side B: “TONE ≠ RETURN”
 – Side C: “CHAMBER DUALITY ZONE”
 – Side D: “UNTRACEABLE / TRACE”
• Edition: 211 copies
• Shipping: Corrugated black sleeve; glued return card: Listening = Entry. No Returns.

SUBSEQUENT FORMATS & VARIANTS
• 1974 Preservation Dub (Internal): Direct 2:1 bounce from Vault C master (Otto Meer); sealed in foil cartridge (basis for 1986 Side D salvage)
• 1986 Italian Bootleg Cassette (Blacktape Archive #17): ~112 copies as M. Rodren – Commune Refractions; mono collapse, reversed order
• 1993 Dutch Grey-Market LP (KlangMesser Greyline): From degraded cassette; randomized titles; no matrix etchings
• 1998 MiniDisc (Shinjuku Etherpress): ~30 copies; re-sequenced suite with reverb overlays; katakana titling; alt “Shiver meat Hymnal” mix
• 2025 Digital Archival Edition: From Preservation Dub #3 + Room B3 splices; hiss/instability preserved; includes bonus EP Dormant Mirrors: Outtakes & Recursions (29:12), 40-page PDF of inserts / ephemera, bonus PDF "Aurora Concord Encyclopedia of Forms"

Bonus EP – Dormant Mirrors: Outtakes & Recursions (29:12)
1․ Mirror Fang Field – Outtake 1 – 03:35
2․ Sunburned Oracle Pt I – Outtake 1 – 02:08
3․ Sunburned Oracle Pt II – Outtake 1 – 04:24
4․ Shiver meat Hymnal – English Outtake – 06:00
5․ Tableau for the Listening Skin – Excerpt Outtake – 03:14
6․ Through the Tarn Eye Veil – 07:11
7․ Subliminal Cartographies – 03:19

OUTTAKES & UNRELEASED MATERIAL
• Room A Drift Test: Autoharp + cross-feed tape; aborted for excessive hiss
• Mirror Fang Vocal-Only Attempt: Multi-tracked glottal wails; excluded from LP
• Tape Room Collapse: Reel C4 dropout at 22:11; left unrepaired in final
• Phase Lattice Study: Two-minute delay pattern by Krahne; exists on Preservation Dub only

EPILOGUE
Commune Mirror Studies is the MIRRORDEN document that still feels dangerous. Not because it’s harsh (it is), but because it trusts duration and chemistry more than arrangement. The band leans on drone, repetition, and heat until new shapes appear; then they hold those shapes until they break. That’s the whole method—and it works.

If you’re mapping the AW/ISN lineage, this is a cornerstone: the double-LP that proved communal improvisation could carry the same weight as any studio classic. It’s not a museum piece; it’s a living system caught on tape.

FOR LISTENERS OF:
• Luc Ferrari – Presque Rien era
• Alvin Lucier – I Am Sitting in a Room
• Taj Mahal Travellers – August 1974
• ZIRKEL 92 – Gemeinsprache I
• Éliane Radigue – Adnos cycle
credits
released October 1, 1972

• Loreta Svein — vocals, guitar, saxophone, autoharp, ritual bowls
• Mika Krahne — drums, percussion, guitar, delay-zither, tape-loop interventions
• Hennix Duval — vocals, bass, modified harmonizer, low-frequency beds
• Otto Meer — drums, contact percussion, splice operations
• “Flinch” — guitar, treated cello, shortwave modulation

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