•
Rating: It's really difficult to put into words the true sound experience you get when listening to this album, but I'll try anyway. To start, a mention certainly goes to the band members: the Battles can safely be defined as a supergroup, featuring 4 prestigious and talented musicians, starting with the leader and guitarist Ian Williams (formerly of Don Caballero and Storm & Stress), widely considered the most brilliant guitarist of the last 10 years, and heir to the great Robert Fripp, accompanied by singer and multi-instrumentalist Tyonday Braxton (son of the famous avant-garde jazzist Anthony), guitarist and bassist David Konopka (formerly of Lynx) and drummer John Stanier (formerly of Helmet and Tomahawk).
What could come out of the meeting of 4 musicians so different in musical background and age? Well, the answer is quite problematic: what the Battles play is a unique and inimitable music that you won't find in any other band (and from this perspective, they are certainly the heirs of Residents and Can). The starting point is definitely math-rock, from which they take the instrumental rigor, but with an evident progressive influence, obviously reinterpreted in a post-rock key: this is felt in the tendency to create complex and intricate tracks ("Tonto" and "Rainbow"), very tough for those who do not have a minimum of predisposition. To all this is added a generous dose of electronic loops and vocoder: this instrument assumes a fundamental role, as throughout almost the entire album, Tyonday's voice is filtered (do you know what happens to your voice if you inhale helium? Well, the idea is that) and used as a real instrument, surprisingly making the general atmosphere very playful, in tracks like the brief "Ddiamondd" and "Leyendecker". The point of junction between these 2 souls is the initial "Race: In": based on a drum and guitar very post-rock foundation, filtered whistles and a disorienting xylophone climb...
The single chosen to promote the album is "Atlas", perhaps the highest point of the work: a robotic ride built on an obsessive and cadenced drum rhythm, but at the same time with an irresistible groove - which will make it impossible not to keep time with a part of your body - on which Tyonday intones a nursery rhyme on the borderline between pure insanity and parody.
In conclusion, definitely one of the most original albums of this year. If you are among those who seek new sounds, "Mirrored" is highly recommended.
RATING = 8.5
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Atlas (07:07)
People won't be people when they hear this sound
that's been glowing in the dark at the edge of town
People won't be people, no
the people won't be people when they hear this sound
Won't you show me what begins at the edge of town
The singer is a crook
The singer is a crook
The singer is a crook
The singer is a crook
The kitchen is the cook
The scissors are the barbers
The singer is a crook
The chorus, full of actors
People won't be people when they hear this sound
that's been glowing in the dark at the edge of town
People won't be people, no
the people won't be people when they hear this sound
Won't you show me what begins at the edge of town
The singer is a crook
The singer is a crook
The singer is a crook
The singer is a crook
The kitchen is the cook
The scissors are the barbers
The singer is a crook
The chorus doesn't matter
People won't be people when they hear this sound
that's been glowing in the dark at the edge of town
People won't be people, no
the people won't be people when they hear this sound
Won't you show me what begins at the edge of town
03 Ddiamondd (02:34)
The diamond that was stolen held the code that melted
water into letters spelling where it had been taken to.
In fact, I had a vision of the numbers corresponding with
the letters T-H-E-D-I-A-M-O-N-D.
They're suspended like a prism splitting floodlight to
poles of primary colours clawing the veil of the vacuum.
There's a picture of this given to authorities, the
sentence,"I'm an architect and here's my prison" written
on it.
With schematics so meticulous the measurements of
superimpositions of a room within the window make a
dream that ends up being such an entity in your
reflection, you are the dream to it, you are the prism.
The mirrors in the corner throwing images against the
other mirrors made counting corners impossible the
breaking news had counted one, two, three, four, five,
six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven corners of the
mirrored corners.
Why have you done what you have done something is so
sinister when staring at the diamond something you
have done sinister why have you done this am I in the
mirror am I what you have been staring at am I a
diamond?
Just like a reflection of a friend of mine, I am a
reflection of an enemy, am I a reflection of an enemy,
just like a reflection of a friend of mine?
06 Rainbow (08:11)
ONCE
ONE TIME
I WAS AMAZED
NATURAL DELAY
AND YOUR WIDE VOICE
GOT OUT OF PHASE
I COULDN'T EXPLAIN
WHY
WOULD SOME
ECHO OUT RACE
A STATEMENT AS VAGUE AS
"ONCE
ONE TIME
I WAS AMAZED"
I WAS AMAZED
07 Bad Trails (05:18)
THE NIGHT
THE NIGHT IS STILL
THE NIGHT IS STILL CALM
STILL COMBATIVE
BUT NEVER ATTACKS
Loading comments slowly
Other reviews
By easycure
I experience a surge of amused excitement.
Their music is an attempt at control that fails, a system that flaws, an appearance that always implies a dark side.
By easycure
This album is intrinsically the total negation of post-rock, not its evolution.
Their alteration of perspective lies in considering what is complex and programmatic in their music not as the future, but as tradition.
