On his sophomore record, songwriter and producer Gavin Murray, better known by his adopted moniker Trick Mist, set off on what the faint of heart might consider a fool’s errand: to tell a true story whilst exploring the surreal. Fear not. The Hedge Maze And The Spade comes alive by merging opposites, offering songs that hug and then rattle you; lyrics that twist a breadmaker into a whimsical artefact; and sounds that command all five senses. 

The catalyst for the project – the death of Murray’s grandmother – feeds a sonic storybook lush with detail from a lived life. In ‘Boring Bread,’ he paints a mundane childhood memory – going food shopping with his grandmother – as an otherworldly experience. Utilising samples taken from the supermarket and turning them into sounds you feel emanate throughout the body, Trick Mist connects a thread between what has been and all that can be. 

This is Trick Mist at his most imaginative, but also most thoughtful. ‘Flagbearer’ is both an exercise in texture and a direct insight into loss. He welcomes muddiness halfway through the album, falling into an endless black hole on ‘No Junction.’ Over plucked violin triplets and a stacked banjo, there’s a plot twist: a way to escape the seemingly endless void. The album closer ‘Willingdon Island’ is a whirlwind and with it, Trick Mist leaves us with a sense of hope.

Listen: ‘Willingdon Island’
Score: 8/10

Out now via Pizza Pizza Records. Read Trick Mist's new interview with Hot Press here

Read more album reviews in the new issue of Hot Press, starring The Coronas.