(Siltbreeze/Stained Circles)

The North American Mid West sucks, apparently.

Cleaning The Mirror is a DIY miscellany of atmospheric downer rock. The six songs contained have been culled from material written and recorded over three years by Kevin De Broux at various locations (presumably share houses) around Wisconsin. The shitty acoustic guitar, improvised percussion and background noises provide a cold, isolated context for painfully alienated vocals to drone, lingeringly on songs of hard times. They’re slow burners, strange and chiming in guitar/keyboard instrumentation and replete with shifting harmonies, loose fitting time signatures and a wealth of hopelessness. The structures ramble on with a shambolic majesty, appropriately avoiding pop conventions and highlighting – I believe – why this works. Never is the listener given a chance to extricate themselves from the torrid mess of strangely treated sounds. The vibe is pervasive and all-consuming, and way too close to De Broux’s lonesome experience for comfort. It’s quite spectacular.

JAKEB SMITH

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