Alyssa Barnhill 5/29/24 Alyssa Barnhill 5/29/24

Entangled Mind Puts Collaboration Front and Center with Latest LP

Marissa Barbato, the creative force behind Entangled Mind, has carved out a place for themselves through their consistent blends of instrumentalism and exceptionally high production standards. Three years after the release of their debut LP, Eternal Motion, they’ve poured their energy into a sophomore album that expands on the thematic psychedelia at the center of the Entangled Mind sound, and reaches new heights against their personal catalog.The Lucid Living LP bridges the gap between emotive and somatic compositions, employing sound as a conduit for fostering connection and introspection.

Written by Alyssa Barnhill

Entangled Mind · Lucid Living

The album opens with “Ossicle”, featuring the work of flutist Mattie Rosi; a delicate yet powerful composition that effortlessly blends listful flutes and chimes with a pulsating bassline, the result is a auditory painting complete with rich color and hue, evoking dreamlike sensations with every vivid note. “Tree of Life”, suffused with the harmonized tones of violins thanks to Matthew Rennick, introduces semitonal melodies overtop textured bass lines and precision rhythms. The composition is seamless, with each successive phrase paving its respective chunk of the narrative road. Raw and flamboyant. “Ghost Pipe”, a collaboration with Denver based producer Xenolinguist, delves into darker territories with its percussion-heavy arrangement and aggressive psytrance elements. The track's back-and-forth rhythms bounce the perspective between each pocket of tension and pressure. Capped off with “A Sunny Spot”, the relaxing final chords of the album ring out with in tandem with the gentle tones of the baserite flute and table, expertly handled by Eric Fraser and R!llo, respectively, and cladding the collaborative DNA of the record with an amber sendoff.

Throughout Lucid Living, Entangled Mind offers their vision of a transcendental musical journey. With its intricate compositions and evocative soundscapes, this album is sure to leave a lasting impression on anyone who chooses to embark on its voyage, and invites listeners to spend time in a state of diligent listening and introspection. Each new project from Barbato’s creative well adds to her repertoire of songs and effusive musical moments, and Lucid Living just the latest taste, with sure more to come.

FOLLOW Entangled Mind: Soundcloud / Bandcamp / Spotify / Instagram

Pasquale Zinna 3/3/21 Pasquale Zinna 3/3/21

Entangled Mind Upends Expectations on Debut LP

With their roots and influences stretching from Charleston, South Carolina, to their present home of Boston, Massachusetts, Entangled Mind is a confluence of sounds and styles. After teasing their exploits through a variety of singles, remixes, and EPs over the last year, they've pulled back the curtain on her debut album, Eternal Motion.

With their roots and influences stretching from Charleston, South Carolina, to their present home of Boston, Massachusetts, Marissa Barbato has gradually fleshed out their musical affluence through her Entangled Mind project. Given the rich underground scenes from both of her urban homes, the blend of ideas and novel production choices in their music comes as no coincidence. Taking advantage of numerous waypoints within the tempo spectrum of electronic music, Entangled Mind productions encompass a variety of moods and styles, taking advantage of contemporaneous rhythms and niche sound design. After teasing their exploits through a variety of singles, remixes, and EPs over the last year, they've pulled back the curtain on their debut album, Eternal Motion.

The general direction of Eternal Motion comprises a number of variations on quintessential downtempo music, taking advantage of meandering measures and elongated phrases to flesh out spatial melodies and wide panned effects. In tune with the mental imagery of the album's title, each track features multifaceted sounds that seem to twist around one another like a signature vortex. “Forward Unfolding”, “Falling”, and “Warped Nostalgia” put that active texture relationship on full display, filling out the available space in the frequency spectrum to it's capacity, but without muddying the individual tones of each sound and instrument. Furthering the album's contextual spread, tracks like “Once in a Blue Moon” and “Shadow Shifting” offer a heavier, bass-centric application of the Entangled Mind style. Expansive neuro synthesis and aquatic timbres take center stage, melding into a scintillating soundscapes and powerful compositions that are sure to push sound systems to their limits, if given the chance.

The specificity in design that's apparent across Eternal Motion is hard to overstate; every passing phrase evolves through deliberate production choices that display not just a strong grasp of contemporary production and engineering, but a vested musical experience overall. What the next series of Entangled Mind productions will sound like is anyone's guess, but it's obvious that the quality of their output isn't up for debate, and there's little doubt that their subsequent releases will expand on the skillsets that give Eternal Motion such a striking profile.

FOLLOW Entangled Mind: Bandcamp / SoundCloud / Spotify / Facebook