Mind Maps by Great Earthquake

The astonishing follow-up to the acclaimed Drawings debut LP of 2010 finds one-man loop master Noah Symons (aka Great Earthquake) taking a bold leap beyond the boundaries and turning in a mesmerising work of utter brilliance.

Utilising a broad range of acoustic instruments, as well as vocals and sounds from nature, Great Earthquake’s soundscapes are built up meticulously around Noah’s jaw-dropping drumkit rhythms.
Stretching the one-man-band approach a few kms beyond the knee-cymbal / kazoo-necklace variety, Great Earthquake layer up golden melodies on guitars, glockenspiels, piano accordions and voice, then toss in some sounds from the natural world, and send the whole thing cascading through a tribal spin cycle, resulting in a wild serotonin-inducing joyride.

"'Mind Maps' is immense, and ever-swelling tribal work-out pitching massive rudimentary drums against layers upon layers upon layers of sound in a manner reminiscent of Gang Gang Dance. Excellent". Inpress Magazine (Single of the Week)

“In 'Appropriate' Symons shows us Great Earthquake is essentially an instrumental dance band for sharehouse livingrooms, for driving around or out of town, even jogging maybe. The “Uh Oh”s become like a mantra for getting psyched, like air-punch running on the spot, Antony Robbins doing flashdance. This song would be perfect on an ipod ad. But I don’t mean that derisively, ipods have pretty good taste in music”. Milk bar Magazine (Single of the week)

"Sitting somewhere on the spectrum of ‘Australiana’ is Mind Maps by Great Earthquake.This is probably my irrelevant organisation of a release that’s familiar in parts, but wholly unquantifiable in others. Think vocals with a distinctive ‘Australian’ voice, and tracks that don’t readily fall into some archetypal ‘indie’ feel. You could say that this is almost world music, but maybe that’s just being lazy.

What’s an interesting thing to note about the feel of this release, is its ability to project a sense of immersion. Despite the fact that it’s technically an acoustic album, this still has qualities akin to Caribou and The Townhouses, in the sense that it establishes a sprawling sense of place. Caribou’s wrote his 2010 release Swim about his literal love of swimming, while Leigh Hannah dreamed about the Orient and shifting environments in Diaspora. Noah Symons, the man behind Great Earthquake set out on this release with Victoria’s Dandenong Ranges in mind.

The record weaves these ideas through with the sounds of ambient hinterland recordings, presumably from that same region. This is especially true on ‘Human Activity’, which is one of the most beautiful points on Mind Maps, in my eyes. It instills a sense of intimacy that makes the tag of a ‘bedroom producer’ actually ring true.

The ethereal ‘Coping Mechanisms’ hints at that too. There’s very little that separates you from Symons as you listen to this. And by no means does ‘bedroom producer’ present something of a detraction of Symons’ musical ability, because really – this creation of intimacy is vulnerability when you flip things over. The lack of lyrics provide a veil, but it’s Symons effectively coming at you unfiltered for the entirety of this release. And that’s something definitely worthy of praise.

So, this release is something that strikes the right balance between rolling with an overt theme, but at the same time, doesn’t discount the importance of structure, instrumentation, and all that other ‘grown-up’ stuff that makes any release stand on its own two feet." Who The Hell

“Could listen to these patchwork gems all day Noah. In fact, i've been known to do that already. Big fan of your album and your multi limbed/multi instrumented layering attacks”. Steph Hughes, triple j

"Noah Symons is one talented guy. Watching him do his one-man show, as Great Earthquake, is pretty cool. Sitting at a drum kit, surrounded by a myriad of instruments and noise makers, he builds these awesome soundscapes that are impeccably timed, focusing on rhythm". Tonedeaf

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