Chuck Johnson is a California-based composer, producer, and musician. He approaches his work with an ear towards finding faults and instabilities that might reveal latent beauty, with a focus on pedal steel guitar, experimental electronics, alternate tuning systems, and composing for film and television. Recordings of his work have been published by VDSQ, Thrill Jockey, Temporary Residence, Kompakt, Ghostly, and Three Lobed, among others.

Ana Cuevas, or Mind Mirage, uprooted from the South in 2019 to reground on Ohlone Land, a.k.a. Oakland, California. After some years of Southern DIY booking and grassroots organizing, she was intensely called to pursue a dedicated music path out West. Though not an inherently political music expression, Mind Mirage instinctively reflects some of Cuevas’ lived experiences, and she recognizes that all of life has political ties.

Cuevas’ first self-produced album, ‘Chaos Carousel’ was two years in the making, allowing for the ebb and flow of influence and inspiration, rest and returned focus needed to get the mixes the way Cuevas said she heard them in her head. Skillfully produced, the album meanders between chaos and confusion, mourning, and a peaceful bliss, expressing the many emotions that arise in Cuevas’ decolonizing approach to music. In ‘Chaos Carousel,’ Cuevas’ emerging creative direction and musical focus feels both self-aware and inward as well as guided towards the reclamation of personal power.