SPACE MIRRORS – MAJESTIC DREAMQUEST – TRIBUTE TO NIK TURNER (Atomic Age Records/ Bandcamp) (2024)

Dedicated to Hawkwind legend Nik Turner who died on 10th November, 2022, this collection of new tracks and previously unreleased has proved popular among the Space Mirrors fandom. It starts with ‘In the Wake of Thunder Rider’, thunder rider referring to a track from Nik’s 2019 album “Final Frontier”. Nik himself appears on sax along with ex- Hawkwind bassist Alan Davey. This, and ‘The Dreamquest of Unknown Kadath’, a near 22-minute long instrumental, to which Nik adds flute and clarinet and guitarist Fabio Bartolini and drummer A.G. Bernstein also contribute, bookend the album. The final track is a fitting swansong with some heavy riffing space rock mixed in with eastern impressionistic nuances. Sandwiched in between is the five-part ‘The Majestic Tapes’, on which multi-instrumentalist and Space Mirrors founder Ailsa Coral plays keys, synth, mellotron, guitar and some bass., and is joined by Nik on sax, flute and voice and original Space Mirrors’ bassist Michael Blackman, along with a drummer (listed as I.D.F.)

Space Mirrors have been specialising in unorthodox esotericism in the shape of unlikely combinations of metal and space rock for over two decades (Ayreon is a big influence): an interview with Jerry Kranitz in “Aural Innovations” #39 (May, 2008- it’s still online) provides some illumination about the Space Mirrors direction of travel. Meanwhile, those imbued with all things Hawkwind, especially Space Mirrors’ collaborator Nik Turner, will want to have a listen to this; many have already done so on Bandcamp.