FADER PREMIERE
Mirage is the solo alias of Robin Nydal, a 19-year-old songwriter from Los Angeles with a self-professed affinity for the melodic acrobatics and expanded instrumental palette of prog. In fact, his debut album, Blood for the Return, includes arrangements of piano, cello, viola, violin, oboe and timpani courtesy of composer Ari Balouzian, even as Nydal's impish, bleating croons make you think of a guy with stadium-sized dreams singing to himself in the shower. Multi-part anthem "Do You Remember" is brimming with hummable, off-kilter hooks; he declined to comment on what the song is about, but Olde English Spelling Bee labelhead Todd Ledford, who stumbled upon the album on bandcamp, says it used to be called "I Will Never Love Again." Blood for the Return is out April 22nd via iTunes, with a physical release forthcoming from OESB soon.
Stream: Mirage, "Do You Remember"