Mirror Mirror
Album | Sons and Daughters
Newly-minted post-punks party like it’s 1979.
Though co-ed quartet Sons and Daughters have been kicking around Glasgow since the early 2000s, Mirror Mirror is their first record in over three years. It not only leaves behind the last traces of the Arab Strap-style folk influences that used to permeate their sound, but also notes a noticeable departure from the hi-fi garage rock of 2008's Bernard Butler-produced grab for the Britpop brass ring, This Gift. Cavernous dirges like "Silver Spell" and "Orion" carry undeniable post-punk roots, with piercing lines of synthesizer and precious little guitar. Frontwoman Adele Bethel sounds sultry as always, though the record could have certainly benefited from more vocal interplay between her and male counterpart Scott Patterson. Fortunately, these Scots have a natural feel for their newly-chosen style: with their guitars choppy and contorted, Ailidh Lennon's bass does an admirable job of filling the melodic gaps with Peter Hook-style throb, although well-placed guitar stabs do turn "Rose Red" and the Patterson-led "Breaking Fun" into two of the record's most instantly memorable. Though not nearly as fun as its immediate predecessor, Mirror Mirror dodges stagnation by pushing Sons and Daughters out of their comfort zone.
| Breaking Fun | |
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