The Third Eye

One of The Third Eye’s favorite labels – Centripetal Force – had a busy 2023, releasing 16 records and having its founder, Mike Mannix, move cross-country. After taking a short break, the label is back with its first release of 2024, and it’s worth the (short) wait. CF recently announced the release of Patrick Sansone’s Infinity Mirrors, a collection of six ambient instrumentals recorded on various synthesizers from Sansone’s vintage collection.

Infinity Mirrors will drop on March 1, 2024, and will be available in a 350-copy vinyl pressing and 100 cassettes. Sansone is a Nashville-based multi-instrumentalist, composer, music producer, and photographer who’s also a member of Wilco, The Autumn Defense, and Mellotron Variations. In other words, he’s a busy man. Being a member of the beloved Wilco is notable, for sure. Infinity Mirrors is also Sansone’s first album as a solo artist.

Sansone’s interest in synthesizers goes back to his teens in the Eighties when he was afforded the benefits and luxury of time to discover and enjoy the pure pleasure of the sound. His hometown, Meridian, Mississippi, wasn’t exactly a synthesizer kind of town, but he did manage to get his hands on a Korg Polysix and an Arp Axxe, and he spent solitary hours creating sounds. He says this was a foundational experience for him, one that’s led to a lifelong passion for collecting and playing vintage synths.

Some of Sansone’s favorite synths utilized in Infinity Mirrors include the Roland Jupiter-8, MiniMoog Model D, Sequential Circuits Prophet-10, the modern Mellotron D4000, and the Teenage Engineering OP1. His ideas for what would become Infinity Mirrors have also been brewing for years. 

Sansone’s plan was always to use his ever-growing collection in some sort of project, but it wasn’t until 2017 that his ideas started to come together. His goal wasn’t to sit down and record an album; it was more of a desire to engage with a new creative process and recapture the spirit and energy he enjoyed when he first discovered synths.

To accomplish this, Patrick established a set of expectations around which he would record. The core of his expectations was the idea that all of the pieces would be improvised and spontaneously created. The instruments needed to be the ones leading the recording sessions. So, he arranged several synthesizers in the studio and set aside a series of evenings to record.

This allowed each composition to retain its own unique mood and identity. He would simply enter the room and let his instruments draw him in, with no planning ahead. It was improvisation in its purest form, which he has called “sonic sound-painting.” As a result, four of the six tracks on Infinity Mirrors were recorded during these blissfully improved sessions.

However, because of Patrick’s involvement in other projects, as well as a demanding tour schedule, the recordings sat on a digital shelf until 2021. It was during a night drive from Atlanta to Nashville that he decided to revisit the recordings, and when he returned, he felt a spark. The music spoke to him in distinct ways, and he felt both connected to and outside of himself as he listened. This spiritual experience of sorts was striking enough that he decided he wanted to share this music with others.

Sansone was looking for someone to release the works that would appreciate what he was doing, and he connected with Mike at Centripetal Force. All of this has led up to the release of Infinity Mirrors, which is a treat for fans of Brian Eno, Tangerine Dream, and Klaus Schulze.

Now, The Third Eye has reviewed ambient records before, especially from Centripetal Force. The label released tons of great trippy ambient music last year, including Pure Land Stars and Prariewolf. However, reviewing ambient recordings can be a challenging task. Unlike more straightforward psych rock, ambient songs can sound very similar and meld together. There are subtleties in tone and movement, but they can be ever so slight.

So, for Infinity Mirrors, as with most ambient records, I recommend you keep an open mind and let the music guide you. Ambient can be great background music for various functions, whether working, reading, or even falling asleep. Close listening is rewarding but not always necessary.

Some ambient music can even be unsettling, lurching into psychedelic territory or the darker realms. But Infinity Mirrors is not necessarily that. Sansone’s “sonic sound paintings” are soothing and relaxing and give the impression of floating through space. This is evident in some of the track titles, such as “Jupiter Removed” and “Dream Molecule.” The sounds are mostly soft and spacey, ideal for healing journeys through the astral plane.

As I listened, I tried to put myself in Sansone’s shoes when he re-discovered the music he had recorded and felt like he was outside of himself when he created it. The fact that the synth music was improvised implies that a spirit was guiding him through the process, perhaps the spirit that dwells within.

To examine each track in detail somewhat defeats the purpose of ambient record review. But I will try with “Phosphenes,” the fifth piece that has a run time of seven minutes and twenty seconds. The piece starts slow and soft and feels a bit spooky, like soundtrack music for an indie sci-fi film. Over time, the sound slightly builds, and I hear what sounds like a siren’s call from the depths. By the end, what sounds like an outer-space Gregorian chant leads us out.

While Infinity Mirrors is not psychedelic by most definitions, I think this is a new release that Third Eye readers may enjoy. Sansone’s six sound paintings are relaxing, experimental, and good for lovers of Brian Eno and all things synthesizer. This is music that can be enjoyed anywhere and at any time, but it is especially good for late-night daydreaming and reverie. Get your pre-orders in now and consider grabbing a copy on vinyl or cassette while you can.

Pre-order Infinity Mirrors by Patrick Sansone on Bandcamp here.

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