Francesko (AKA Mystic Diversions) is a standout in electronic ambient music, and although it's taken awhile for the rest of the world to catch onto what he was doing, Crossing The Liquid Mirror is just one of several releases now being made available in order to make his work more readily known. In a time when pretty much anyone can pick up a laptop and churn out reams of music in no time at all, his methods for music construction seem almost laborious. Perhaps some of that is due to a new digital world obsessed with the recreation of analog sounds, but part of it also lies with Francesko's ability to strip things down to the basics and play off all the slight variations and nuances that he can get out of each piece. Over the course of 16 tracks he twists every small little wrinkle and fold out of the sounds that he's slowly tweaking, and the result is something timeless and hypnotic. The first three tracks focus more on the shifting melody of the loops, while lower-end drones and fluttering static sways in the background, culminating in the wash of rain samples on Late Summer Rain. It sounds almost as if someone is playing a small symphony of water and liquid synth pads. On the second half of the release the melodies seem to slide into the background more often, letting the chatter of ethnic drumming and analog stabs through to the front. But the cumulative effect of the entire disc is one of a warm, and calming feel. As one might guess, Crossing The Liquid Mirror is definitely a release that falls into repetition, yet that is part of the charm of it all. The tracks that Francesko has put together simply would not work without the subtle reinforcement of an entire disc of similar material, and although they somewhat push the limits by the end of the recording, it's music that settles in around you and creates a mood. Ambient fans rejoice.