Album Review: Mirror! Mirror! - Sons & Daughters

Sons & Daughters' new album Mirror! Mirror! feels rotten to the core. Produced by Keith McIvor, also known as JD Twitch and one half of Glaswegian DJ duo Optimo, it feels significantly darker than anything the band have done before.

Drenched in black with stripped back production Mirror! Mirror! feels a bit like the post-punk revival of the past ten years never happened. Whilst the band cite inspiration as coming from Stevie Nicks, Siousxie, PJ Harvey and Fever Ray it's really more a fairly faithful interpretation of the sounds of Joy Division, Gang of Four et al. Not that this is a bad thing - Interpol and more recently the Horrors have both created great music by using little more than a collection of four or five records from 1978-1983 as inspiration.

In fact Sons & Daughters sound so raw on this record that there is very little not to love. The Optimo sound surrounds this record like creeping dense fog - it's claustrophobic and pretty much impossible to escape. Guitars crunch whilst feedback cuts from left channel to right like a knife on 'Orion', all of it underpinned by David Gow's tight percussion. And the rhythm is the real star of the show here - whether straight up, no-frills and uncompromising as on reverb heavy 'Don't Look Now' or the punchy bass of tribute to murdered actress Elisabeth Short 'Axed Actor'.

The same is true of the 'Ink Free', which tackles singer Adele Bethel's writer's block, and it is a real highlight. Heavy and taught with the production applied with a subtle enough touch to give enough room for Bethel and (second vocalist and guitarist) Scott Paterson's frankly terrifying duet. The occasional burst of distorted white noise and the snare hits that punctuate the atmosphere feel like they actually leave a holes in the structure of the song.

Mirror! Mirror! is lean and focused and for that it should be applauded. Sons & Daughters have created, with the assistance of Keith McIvor, a dizzying and uncompromising album full of tiny details. As a whole body Mirror! Mirror!, the title surely a reference to self-absoption, talks more of the spiral of depression than anything else and that comes through in the palpable claustrophobia this record seeps out throughout its length.

BP x

Mirror! Mirror! is out now on Domino, available from Amazon.co.uk on CD, LP and MP3 [affiliate links].

Album Review: Native To - Is Tropical

I've been following Is Tropical since before they were featured on Kitsuné Maison Ten and signed to the Kitsuné label - they feel a bit like a sun bleached, tie-dyed take on the nu rave sound of the Klaxons. It was single 'South Pacific' that really caught my attention however and as such it's a pretty appropriate album opener here, a contradictorily epic shoe-gazing anthem it recalls holidays, the seaside and hope.

The only problem with opening the album on 'South Pacific' is that it gives the rest of the set a lot to live up to. It's a task Is Tropical step up to with a relatively admiral aplomb but never fully address. Native To is short, at just 36 minutes, and therefore has no real problems with overstaying it's welcome but it also struggles to leave a lasting idea within that time. In comparison to 'South Pacific' the majority of the album is considerably more electronic and danceable. 'Land of the Nod' has a thick, warm baseline that splatters things with Is Tropical's trademark colourful sunshine whilst 'The Greeks' hums along, fuzzy and chunky.

But the music is best when rebellious and surrounded by space - 'What ???', with it's rapid fire vocals a soaring chorus ("Temptation to be good”, they sing) is the track that gets them closest to the wonderment of 'South Pacific' and 'Berlin' sounds suitably starry eyed and overwhelmed.

Native To definitely feels like a debut effort - it's a little rough around the edges and content to figure out what it is as it goes along. And sometimes I like that. Whilst Is Tropical are unlikely to top any album-of-the-year lists this certainly cements them as ones to watch. And maybe that is the point - final track 'Think We're Alone' pulls the plug seemingly abruptly, almost like the band are determined to head off before you hear too much of what might be coming next.

BP x

Native To is out now on Kitsuné, available from Amazon.co.uk on CD and MP3 [affiliate links].

Album Review: It's All True - Junior Boys

Junior Boys are one of those few acts where I am frankly just happy for them to stay the same. Their slick take on eighties influenced pop feels like an alternative future where Spandau Ballet ruled the world. Despite this the slight change in direction It's All True represents feel like a definite change for the better.

Sonically this album radiates sunshine. Their most overtly sensual and warm album yet and the result is that things get suspiciously close to Balearic. Married to Johnny Greenspan's as-ever gorgeous vocals this is a very good thing indeed - an irresistible hit of relaxed, dry heat. The songs here vary from being loved up and snappy, as on the punchy rhythms of 'A Truly Happy Ending' to relaxed to the point of apathy. 'Playtime' is a perfect example of the latter - a track that feels like it has been left out in the sun to the point of near-total evaporation. It's almost as though there is nothing left, the crawl to it's conclusion only just about manageable.

Lyrically and emotionally then It's All True is the aural equivalent of the cat Garfield, trapped within a sunbeam that suddenly imparts such a warm feeling of apathy that he can no longer manage the energy needed to move beyond it's grasp. Greenspan sounds overwhelmed by his affections. On opener 'Itch Fingers' he sounds completely aware that his emotions may be being toyed with, yet embraces his feelings anyway. Similarly on 'You'll Improve Me' Greenspan's persistent chorus of "That's the way you'll improve me" is simultaneously cloying and naïve - sounding both like an unwelcome admirer and a victim all at once.

Sunshine and lies run through this album like a seam. The title appears to relate to not just one song but all of them - several making explicit references to truth and lies and the others depicting someone in a state of lying to themselves. It's All True is best when this is combined with warmth and funk however - 'Second Chance' with its tight percussion and bubbling bass line.

Things close with 'Banana Ripple'. I've already mentioned this track in a previous post but it bears highlighting it again - it isn't just the best thing the Junior Boys have ever done, it's probably the best track I've heard all year. 'Banana Ripple' is pure summer sunshine exuberance and it feels like the manifestation of a change in the band - like the straight guy losing fear and taking the dance floor for his own: suddenly they can dance! Huge keyboards, organs and beautiful muted guitar combine with Greenspan's calls: "You'll never see me go...", like he finally wised up and left. And it has that feeling - it's empowered and striking and goosebump inducing.

Call it hyperbole, but in my head this is what the first summer of love sounds like.

BP x

It's All True is released on Domino on 4 July in the UK and 14 June elsewhere, available for pre-order from Amazon.co.uk on CD and LP [affiliate links].

Album Review: Late Night Tales - Trentemøller

I've been a bit of a fan of Trentemøller for a while now, and particularly love his Harbour Boat Trips mix album [affiliate link] since it really eschews expectations of what a mix album should be. Not made for dancing, or even chilling out to, Harbour Boat Trips was a textured mood-piece - a journey through late night Copenhagen - and that sense shot for and hit what all good mix albums should: transcendence, the creation of an artistic piece with as much merit as the standard artist album.

If you are familiar with my blog you will probably realise that my favourite music tends to be electronic, and as such I've always loved mix albums almost as much as normal albums. At their best they can take music you know and place it in an entirely new context in a way that totally changes your perception - just look at the popularity of Soulwax's 2ManyDJ's act.

Trentemøller's mixes are, however, nothing like 2ManyDJs. But they do shift your perception of the songs you know, and create feelings out of songs you don't. The Late Night Tales CD series has existed for years and on the whole they are good, but they often feel incomplete - perhaps as a result of the late night after party concept. maybe they are just supposed to feel a bit thrown together.

Whatever the case, this one doesn't feel thrown together in any way. This is very much another take on the Harbour Boat Trips formula. The mix is dense, dark and paranoid. You won't dance - you'll be too afraid to even move. There is a creeping dread that runs through a lot of this album but it creates a beautiful, tangibly thick atmosphere.

This is particularly true of the start of the album, which is consistently heavy. Trentemøller's remix of Chimes & Bells' 'The Mole' is one of the album's best moments - a perfect blend of digital and analogue, one moment soaring, the next bathed in looping bass and stabs of synth.

This dark opening third is rounded out by Mazzy Star's 'Mary of Silence', pondering and slow it gives way to the Velvet Underground's 'Venus and Furs'. This in itself marks the start of a more left field section which peaks with Jacqueline Taieb's French spoken and ad-libbed 'Sept Heures Du Matin'. In fact the entire album hits it's peak when the music drops away and Taieb drops in to English to say "Talking 'bout my generation". It's knowing and sassy and effortlessly cool, which basically encapsulated this album.

The final third of the album feels like a blend of the former two. Trentemøller's only track on here, 'Blue Hotel', is at turns dark and sassy followed by moments of bleak electronic instrumentation. It genuinely feels not of this time and sits alongside the rest of the music here perfectly. The album goes on to close in a typically epic fashion which it is not my place to spoil.

So in summary Trentemøller has done it again. His Harbour Boat Trips is one of the best mix albums ever made and this stands up to that album as its equal.

BP x

Late Night Tales is out on Monday, available from Amazon.co.uk on CD and MP3 [affiliate links].

Album Review: Reekin'Structions - The Revenge

Reekin'Structions just might be one of the worst album titles I've ever heard. It's like reconstruction, because it's an album of remixes. And I guess it's reekin' because, erm, they smell?

Who knows. Some clever chap in marketing no doubt. Thankfully the album sounds better than the title smells. What you have here is funk and Italo-style disco re-edits of ten tracks I have to confess I've never heard of. That makes it difficult to gauge just how much work The Revenge (alter ego of Graeme Clarke) has put into the edits but let's give him the benefit of the doubt on that one.

Opener 'Ease Out' by Mid-Air sets the pace nicely - there is a lovely swirling sound that gives the whole thing a warm body, perfect for the squelchy bass and live drums sounds that bring it to life. It's precisely the kind of track that sounds like it has been crafted to open DJ sets - it may not carry you out the back to one of the private rooms for the experience of your life, but you'll certainly have a good time.

From there things become decidedly more funky. Johnny Adams' 'Feel The Beat' is more organic and closer to what I imagine the original sounded like - heavy bass is pushed to the fore but the song is very much still that: a proper song. As mixes go it's subtle and all the better for it.

The album certainly benefits from an eclectic approach - Velvet Hammer's 'Party Down' is stripped back and looped and filtered to within an inch of its life. Hot to the point of almost being able to see the sweat running down the walls it was born to be played it tiny basement bars and back rooms. It has the sound of a track playing when you walk into a small club or a bar and you realise instantly that everyone in there is cooler and having more fun than you.

Even more driving is Vance and Suzzanne's 'I Can't Get Along Without You', which rips the bleeding heart out of the love song it once was and forces it to dance through a tight, muted house number. It's as unsympathetic a remix as this album offers but the contrast just about makes it work with no small thanks to the pay-off of the break.

Whilst Reekin'Structions may ultimately be little more than a series of fairly straight forward disco re-edits there is just no denying the class of those edits. It takes in elements of soul, disco, acid, house and dub and gradually weaves them into each other to create something you can't help but want to move to.

BP x

Reekin'Structions is out now on Z Records, available on from Amazon.co.uk on CD [affiliate link].