2011 release  ** Custom deluxe cardboard package. Hand-numbered limited edition of 474. "Simon Balestrazzi, an eclectic figure on the Italian experimental scene, has been associated with bands that have made history here over the past 35 years, including Tomografia Assiale Computerizzata (T.A.C.), Kino Glaz, Dream Weapon Ritual, and Candor Chasma. He has also collaborated with artists such as Z'EV, Ikue Mori, Elio Martusciello, Gianluca Becuzzi, Kirlian Camera, and many others. “A Rainbow In My Mirror” represents Balestrazzi’s solo debut: a twenty-one-minute suite recorded in two different takes, one on the autumn equinox of 2009 and the next on the spring equinox of 2010. To create this suite, Balestrazzi uses both acoustic and electronic instruments: the acoustic instruments include a classical guitar, a psaltery (an ancient Greek string instrument belonging to the zither family), a cimbalom (a Ukrainian and Hungarian version of the psaltery), and an organ. The electronic instruments include an EMS VCS3 synthesizer, the modular synthesis software “Bidule” (from Plogue Arts and Technology, similar to the better-known Max/MSP), while the concrete sounds include field recordings made by Balestrazzi himself and radio voices. A Rainbow In My Mirror is an electroacoustic suite containing elements of avant-folk and noise that, over time, induces the listener into a trance-like state. Clanks, hisses, industrial and metallic noises, oriental sounds, interference, and much more are the ingredients of this abstract, visionary, and evocative work. The organ, which appears and disappears here and there throughout the composition, and the VCS3 infuse a mantra with cosmic German atmospheres typical of the 1970s. The album's packaging is an elegant A5-sized gatefold cardboard sleeve (limited to just 474 copies) featuring drawings of Siamese twin skeletons. Rainbow In My Mirror is the first installment in a series called "Magick With Tears," consisting of four CD mini-albums (all with the same packaging) curated by Balestrazzi himself for TiConZero. The next three volumes include works by A Sphere Of Simple Green ("Untitled Soundscapes"), Uncodified ("Involucri"), and Dream Weapon Ritual ("Another View"). The album is certainly less structured than those by T.A.C. and Dream Weapon Ritual, but Balestrazzi's unmistakable touch is evident throughout this challenging yet fascinating work."