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NOMORI / after 'Spirit Plane' and 'Presents'

from Three​-​Crossing River (after YOKAI) by Laura Sampson

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about

This track, inspired by looking at Maurer & Moore's 'Spirit Plane' and 'Presents' retells the story and structure of noh Nomori (Watchman's Mirror), where a pond famous for its clear water is in fact - or is it? - a magic mirror belonging to a demon, who appears in disguise as the watchman of the pond. Reflector, or reflectee: which is the more real?

View these and the other images from YŌKAI at White Conduit Projects gallery, London (until 27/2/22) and at www.maurer-moore.com.

lyrics

If you hold a mirror up to the water, the water takes on the properties of glass. Water into glass, glass into a thing that flows, a thing that takes on a life of its own, a thing that floats between two worlds. In that state, the mirror can show you things you never knew were there. But there they are - catch them while you can.

On the rolling Kasuga plain, there was a body of water, which was called the Watchman’s Mirror.
Once, there was a traveller who stopped in Kasuga on his way from one mountain and another.

There, the traveller met an old man, a watchman whose job it was to watch over the Watchman’s Mirror pond - a pond so clear that long ago, it fooled a great emperor into believing his lost hunting hawk, sitting in the tree above, had become a fish.

Watchman’s Mirror - named for a real mirror. A magic mirror, that reflects heaven, hell and earth all at once. Once it belonged to a demon, who posed as a watchman by day and lived in a cairn by night.

The old man watchman is that demon. After dark, up from the water mirror, the demon appears to the traveller, and shows him what no human should be able to see. Water becomes glass, the mirror stands between one world and the other. The traveller keeps on travellng.

credits

from Three​-​Crossing River (after YOKAI), released February 15, 2022
Laura Sampson: Words, vocals
Sam Enthoven: Sounds, mixing
Stephan Barrett: Sounds

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about

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wordbird London, UK

Laura Sampson is a storyteller and writer from London, UK, inspired by world myth and folklore.

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