Where and how you listen to an album makes a difference. I was listening to this one in my car earlier on. The speakers seemed to poke holes in the record and point to all the places where the skeins of breathy vocals and vintage synths and scratchy, scuzzy guitars failed to entwine.
As a fan of The Kills and The xx (whose brooding darkness Mirror Mirror has in its crosshairs), I thought the whole thing sounded less like a sleek rock ‘n’ roll puma and more like tabby in a gimp outfit. Now though, in the kitchen on the €20 Aldi stereo, I’m hearing something quite different: a jet black, serrated sound that’s flashing its canines with menace. But it still hasn’t bitten me.
Whether my ears are simply getting used to it, or Sons & Daughters’ sparse, electro-lite blues rock is actually significantly better than I first thought, I’m not yet sure – though I do suspect the latter. But the fact remains that, whatever the merits of their sonic crafting, they’re not hanging songs on it that would stand up in any other context.
Mirror Mirror is definitely an interesting album, thick with dark moodiness and grim lyrical references and, for folks who like their indie a deathly shade of pale, it’s sure to appeal. Me? I’m going to have to try living with it a bit more...