Syrinx formed in 1970, when composer and multi-instrumentalist Mills-Cockell joined forces with percussionist Alan Wells and saxophonist Doug Pringle. A progressive music trio whose body of work incorporated elements of electronica, classical and world music, and psychedelic rock, Syrinx initially played the Toronto coffee-house circuit. After a time, Canadian music executive and talent manager
Bernie Finkelstein signed the trio to his newly created
True North Records.
Debut Album Syrinx released its first (eponymous) album in 1970. In its wake, the group found itself newly in demand from a variety of quarters: Syrinx opened for
Miles Davis on his
Bitches Brew tour, and played bills with
Ravi Shankar.
Long Lost Relatives Riding the wave of notice and critical approval that arose from their first album, Syrinx returned to the studio in late 1970 to record a second album. However, after weeks of recording, a fire destroyed the studio, the group’s instruments - including Mills-Cockell’s Moog Mark II - and the master tapes of the recordings for their new album. Undeterred, and with fundraising support from the Toronto musical community, the group purchased new instruments and pressed on to record the album.
Long Lost Relatives was issued in 1971 on Finkelstein’s True North label. The album included Mills-Cockell’s
Tillicum and the four
Stringspace pieces (which, owing to the space restrictions of the LP medium, spanned both sides of the LP), rounded out by three additional Mills-Cockell compositions:
Tumblers to the Vault,
Better Deaf and Dumb from the First, and
Aurora Spinray.
Tillicum was also released as a single, and peaked at #38 on the Canadian charts in 1971. ==Dissolution and reissues==