It’s funny, but also tragic at the same time, that genres and labels dictate so much of our music consumption in the modern age.
When I first came across this track from Decibel mcbo I almost skipped past it because of the alternative label used to describe the song Mirror.
Thankfully I didn’t, because this piece of music is so much more than that.
Starting with a brief, short and sharp bout of harsh vocals, Mirror promises one thing but abruptly delivers another as a beautifully measured clean voice follows that reminds me more of Incubus than anything in the alternative realm.
Swirling guitars flicker haphazardly in the background, with the captivating vocals taking centre stage almost by default.
There is plenty going on behind the scenes here, with every subtle nuance sitting nicely in the mix and only standing out when the time calls for it.
The sporadic interjection of harshness adds another, welcome layer to the track which stutters beautifully in parts, avoiding the breakdown cliché that punctuates many new songs, instead replacing them with the intersecting points of a myriad of influences to create an effortless musical transition.
Mirror is lifted from the band’s recently released EP MIDI.chlorian, and as a musical representative of that body of music does more than enough to spike interest in listening to the whole EP.
I don’t know how I would personally label this music – not that I want to – but alternative alone is nowhere near enough justification in portraying the music of a band who dives much deeper into the spectrum of music than just one genre.
