REVIEW: Gotye - Making Mirrors

Gotye
Making Mirrors
.5 (out of 5)

Gotye (aka. the alter ego of Australian multi-instrumental musician Wouter De Backer) is a bit difficult to define musically; he seems to be a bit of a post-modern music box – which is always a risky venture – the form tends to up a matter of taste. Making Mirrors, for the most part, makes the intrepid melee work.

The album’s first single, ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’, is also the best track on the record. Much like the Australian rugby team, De Backer knows when to ring in a Kiwi to lead them toward a good end. The introspective post-romantic navel gaze features Hamilton’s own Kimbra. I currently live in this aspiring little cow town (long story) – I knew there must be a good thing hiding somewhere, even if she has moved to Melbourne. The rising starlet’s own debut record, Vows just landed – so exciting! Anyway, enough about Kimbra for now (she’s fucking amazing).

Gotye’s soul searching continues in the brooding ‘Smoke and Mirrors’. The tribal beats and brass outbursts set the platform for a series of hints of self-doubt and realization (through the eyes of a good-time burlesque dancer, if I’m hearing/interpreting the story correctly) – “you’re a fraud and you know it/but it’s too good to throw away”, “and every night and day you take the stage/and always entertain”. It is honest song-writing in a bordello setting – it really is quite good.

Mid-way through the record the genre-blending really starts to swing wildly. ‘I Feel Better’ has a hip-swinging old school RnB/soul feel to it, whilst the happy 80s-pop of ‘In Your Light’ will get you dancing in the street (if you’re not too far from the front door).

Both tracks are great; the last two dub-influenced tracks of the album aren’t so much. Their inclusion in the track list is quite jarring, and the consistency of the album is lost through the trying-of-too-many-tricks exhibited here.

I mentioned at the start of the review that experimental records, such as Making Mirrors, are risky and almost always governed by taste. Unfortunately the closing of the record doesn’t digest as well as it could have.

Despite the somewhat lacklustre finale, Gotye “walk the plank with (their) eyes wide open” (‘Eyes Wide Open’) and for the most part have surfaced with an entirely solid release. The good songs are great.

Gotye - Somebody That I Used To Know feat. Kimbra

By Theo Sangster.