Jaime Fennelly leads Mind Over Mirrors, the cosmic project comprising Jim Becker (Iron and Wine, Califone) on violin, Janet Beveridge Bean (Freakwater, Eleventh Dream Day) on hand percussion, and Jon Mueller (Death Blues) on drums. Last month they teased their forthcoming album, Bellowing Sun, with the frenetic and entrancing “Matchstick Grip.” Today they share “Zeitgebers,” an atmospheric groove that somehow sounds both intergalactic and medieval. Pulsating strings, shifting drum beats, and a harmonium play about the synth soundscape. The song beams and flickers, inspired by the growing impact of artificial light on living beings.

Fennelly explains the single in his own words:

A couple of years ago I began exploring what it means for us (humans, and all animals, plants, fungi and beyond) to be living on a planet that is currently getting brighter and brighter each year through artificial lighting, and the impact that that has on us in a metaphysical sense as well as various behavioral and biological effects. Where we are going isn’t looking so great, although it certainly will be very bright. Thanks to a focus on the topic in the media due to a number of recent scientific studies, as well as Paul Bogard’s engrossing book, “The End of Night”, I came to understand more fully what circadian rhythms were and how our bodies, including the intercommunication pathways between our organs and nervous system, synchronize to environmental cues to keep us running as a well-tuned holistic organism. The growing amount of artificial light, as well as the spectrum of transmitted light changing from incandescent to LED, is directly impacting our biology in ways that have never been experienced before by anyone or anything on Earth. Ever. The natural time keeping events that we have evolved with over the millennia are suddenly being changed through human intervention, and the initial effects are just beginning to become evident. “Zeitgebers” (which translates from German to English as “time-giver”) acknowledges these greater forces around us and within us.

Listen below.

Bellowing Sun is out 4/6 via Paradise of Bachelors. Pre-order it here.