Hold the Phone It's So State of the Art

Alright. I've been holding this one in for a while. I'm in love with Gotye's Making Mirrors and I have mixed feelings about it. I've been listening to the crazy huge hit Somebody That I Used to Know for months on satellite radio. At first I'd only listen to the first 30 seconds and give up. Then I gave in. It builds and builds through the Sting-like vocals and what I can only call the tinky music until Kimbra nails it with her painfully short guest appearance. While I believe it is a killer tune worthy of all the attention it's getting, I was pleasantly surprised to hear so many other great tunes on the album.

The true surprise of the whole album is how unashamedly reverent it is to many sounds of decades past, particularly the 80s. It's not only about the new wave that seems to rear its head every few years. Eyes Wide Open follows up Somebody with a clear nod to Peter Gabriel at his best. The Depeche Modey Smoke and Mirrors is next and sets up the three most interesting and probably polarizing songs on the album. I Feel Better sounds like Sly and the Family Stone filtered through 30+ years of indie music. In Your Light is the best yacht rock tune I've heard since the subgenre's heyday, although it starts off scarily enough with a George Michael riff. And State of the Art. What can I say about State of the Art? I just can't decide if they're being cheeky or dead serious about it. It sincerely reminds of listening to and making our own goofy shit with my brother (Way2Poppy) and cousin when we were kids.  The album ends with probably two of the strongest songs Save Me and Bronte. Bronte is just lovely and usually makes we want to listen to the whole damn album again.

At its core Making Mirrors is an electro-pop (gack) album and probably the best since The Postal Service's brilliant Give Up. It's definitely of its time but surprisingly the fact that it evokes such strange bedfellows makes it so damn fun. I feel like a fool smiling every time I hear its genius little moments, but isn't that what it's all about?

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