Perceptions
by Mock Deer
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Get all 13 Mock Deer releases available on Bandcamp and save 35%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Harbinger, Harbinger (Radio Edit), Perceptions, Contempt for Others, Let the Cold Light In, Your Open Heart (Remix), The Art of Loneliness (Single), The Art of Loneliness, and 5 more.
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1. |
Contempt for Others
04:10
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This ain't the dream, that we thought it could be
We broke society... perhaps?
You told us what to do and say, it didn't matter anyway
We wrote the part but not the facts
Yes it's true, I've broken rules, well haven't you?
We're hardwired to offend
Accepting these faults like we would our friends and family, is hard to do.
Let's agree to disagree
Can we just do that, can we?
It seems not, so what we've got here, Is a perpetual cycle of pain and fear.
Contempt for others
Based on their ethical and moral views
Ego's a motherfucker
Lets take it down a peg or two, won't you?
When I think too hard on this
I get a little bit Nihilistic
And whats the truth and wheres the proof?
Dig deep to find your own fake news
Perhaps it's that we're too far gone
And this play it goes on and on
We spin, we wail, we laugh, we cry
Save tears for the good old times gone by.
Rpt Chorus
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2. |
Human Code
05:19
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3. |
Fires in the Rain
05:54
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4. |
Father Time
07:24
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about
Recorded around the time of the release of debut album The Art of Loneliness, Mock Deer’s Perceptions EP marks a more relaxed and confident side to singer/songwriter Ricky Damiani’s approach and output.
During a busy creative period, Damiani accepted an invitation to record with long-time friends and collaborators, Canadian band The Burning Hell. Holing up in Snowbird Studios – the band’s mobile recording unit, hooked onto a wood-panelled villa amid the Italian Mountains above Rome – Damiani opted to explore and flesh out the unfinished songs he was still working on at the time.
These songs, still forming, became the backbone of what was to become an organic recording process, the band learning and jamming the day’s material directly onto tape, spilling into evenings of communal meals and local wine with the people living around them. A departure from the meticulous and long process that went into forming The Art of Loneliness, this raw, lo-fi approach makes for a record that you can almost hear moving into place as you listen. The speed with which the songs were brought together means there was no time to labour over creative decisions as before; the result has an open-ness and gentle magic to it.
Time seems to be at the core of the EP’s lyrical content, too. In typically reflective mode, Damiani addresses the complications of ageing in songs like Father Time and Human Code. His take on the continual re-calibration required for co-existence is smartly wrought too. "Contempt for others, based on their ethical and moral views / Ego’s a motherfucker, Take it down a peg or two, won’t you?”, he declaims across the anthemic chorus of Contempt, a song squarely aimed at the bloody minded, the blame-driven and "cancel culture".
Damiani returned from Italy with these recordings just as the World ground to a halt in early 2020. Inevitably, the project’s momentum also slowed. Again influenced by circumstance, the second phase of production on the EP became slower and more reflective, Damiani choosing to sit with the recordings and wait out the “strange and dark” 18-month period. He opted not to live-stream Mock Deer performances during lockdowns, leading to a decision to hold back the recordings’ release. Over the period Damiani and producer/collaborator Scott Fitzgerald took time to adjust, edit and add a little to them, creating an end product which synthesises two approaches to working – and two sets of global circumstances – in a very personal way.
These songs were locked down with the rest of us; the time has finally come to let them go.
During a busy creative period, Damiani accepted an invitation to record with long-time friends and collaborators, Canadian band The Burning Hell. Holing up in Snowbird Studios – the band’s mobile recording unit, hooked onto a wood-panelled villa amid the Italian Mountains above Rome – Damiani opted to explore and flesh out the unfinished songs he was still working on at the time.
These songs, still forming, became the backbone of what was to become an organic recording process, the band learning and jamming the day’s material directly onto tape, spilling into evenings of communal meals and local wine with the people living around them. A departure from the meticulous and long process that went into forming The Art of Loneliness, this raw, lo-fi approach makes for a record that you can almost hear moving into place as you listen. The speed with which the songs were brought together means there was no time to labour over creative decisions as before; the result has an open-ness and gentle magic to it.
Time seems to be at the core of the EP’s lyrical content, too. In typically reflective mode, Damiani addresses the complications of ageing in songs like Father Time and Human Code. His take on the continual re-calibration required for co-existence is smartly wrought too. "Contempt for others, based on their ethical and moral views / Ego’s a motherfucker, Take it down a peg or two, won’t you?”, he declaims across the anthemic chorus of Contempt, a song squarely aimed at the bloody minded, the blame-driven and "cancel culture".
Damiani returned from Italy with these recordings just as the World ground to a halt in early 2020. Inevitably, the project’s momentum also slowed. Again influenced by circumstance, the second phase of production on the EP became slower and more reflective, Damiani choosing to sit with the recordings and wait out the “strange and dark” 18-month period. He opted not to live-stream Mock Deer performances during lockdowns, leading to a decision to hold back the recordings’ release. Over the period Damiani and producer/collaborator Scott Fitzgerald took time to adjust, edit and add a little to them, creating an end product which synthesises two approaches to working – and two sets of global circumstances – in a very personal way.
These songs were locked down with the rest of us; the time has finally come to let them go.
credits
released March 4, 2022
Written by Ricky Damiani
Vocal & Acoustic Guitar - Ricky Damiani
Electric Guitar - Mathias Kom
Bass - Darren Browne
Bass Clarinet/BV's - Ariel Sharratt
Synth/Percussion - Jake Nichol
BV's - Laura Capaldi
Produced by Jake Nichol
Mixed by Scott Fitzgerald
Mastered by John Nicholls at Audio Racket
Artwork - Martyna Damię
Written by Ricky Damiani
Vocal & Acoustic Guitar - Ricky Damiani
Electric Guitar - Mathias Kom
Bass - Darren Browne
Bass Clarinet/BV's - Ariel Sharratt
Synth/Percussion - Jake Nichol
BV's - Laura Capaldi
Produced by Jake Nichol
Mixed by Scott Fitzgerald
Mastered by John Nicholls at Audio Racket
Artwork - Martyna Damię
license
all rights reserved
tags
about
Mock Deer London, UK
A Self-taught Musician with a unique playing and writing style.
Debut full-length LP 'The Art Of
Loneliness' is out now.
Incredible! - Rough Trade
“Transfixingly crushing, cinematically resonant, Alt-Indie folk – AnR Factory
“A thoughtful commentary on modern society” – Americana UK
“Most thoughtful and reflective of our times” – Echoes & Dust
... more
shows
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May 2Berlin, Germany
discography
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Apr 2024 -
Apr 2024 -
Mar 2022 -
Jan 2022
contact / help
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