Record Review: Mirror – Mirror

If M83’s Before the Dawn Heals Us was the soundtrack to a French noir thriller, then this is the Broadway musical. Mirror is the name and soundtrack of a multi-media project assembled by former Slow front-man Thomas Anselmi. Anselmi was able to recruit a wide array of artists — teen actress Frances Lawson, former Bowie pianist Mike Garson, Depeche Mode’s Dave Gahan — to help shape his dark electro-pop, which is about as far away from Slow’s riot-inducing rock as you can get. Gahan’s “Nostalgia,” which could easily fit onto any of Depeche Mode’s records during their turn of the ’90s peak, and the Lawson sung “Nowhere” are stunning highlights, torch songs ready for your next break-up mixtape. But front-loading the album with this one-two punch reveals the sameness that plagues Mirror’s other seven tracks. Their melancholy plodding becomes tiresome as tracks begin to bleed into one another and by the halfway mark, you’re already scouring your playlist for something with a little more vitality. Anselmi’s visuals might have carried these songs in a live performance setting but without them, most of Mirror lies dead in the water.

This review originally appeared in the February issue of Exclaim!