Looking Glass

Album review

Old and new combine on this sumptuous EP from synth-gloom heroes the Birthday Massacre. The title track, "Looking Glass," is pulled from the band's Walking with Strangers album, a darkly lush dance-pop delight. Three other tracks from that set are also featured here, but all in remixed form. The driving dance of the gothy "Falling Down" now swirls about in a far spacier and doomier realm, while the muscular goth pop of "Weekend" is reinvented as a Depeche Mode-ish extravaganza. In contrast, the Depeche-esque "Red Star" now undergoes two transformations -- initially into an airy, clubby delight, and then remodeled into lavish electronica fare. That's the old; the new comes in the shape of "Shiver" and "Nowhere," the former a steamy gloom-pop number powered by irrepressible beats. Its lyrical theme of a girl trapped in a cold, cruel world is re-created in the latter piece, a frigid instrumental wasteland swept by swirls of synths. And finally, there's the old made new, as the Birthday gang frolics darkly through the past with a rollicking cover of Tommy James & the Shondells' '60s hit "I Think We're Alone Now," although it's probably mall rat supremo Tiffany's version they're intent on interring for good. A video of this number is also included. Something grand to keep fans going through the dark nights until the band's next album arrives.
© Jo-Ann Greene /TiVo