Mirror Mirror on the wall, who is the post-gothiest of them all? Actually, if you view Mirror Mirror’s video for ‘Interiors’ (and I recommend you take a peak), it appears as if the wicked Queen that haunts Snow White has aged, but maintains her villainous essence. The image of a dark, spastic, androgynous queen with her pointy finger nails and dark shadowy eyes is an indicator of what a room full of Mirror Mirror fans might look like, or should look like at the very least. Mirror Mirror’s newest effort is an 80s inspired post-goth circus resembling a darker twisted version of the Thompson Twins or perhaps Duran Duran’s darker cousin Arcadia, and combining the firepower of melodies like Peter Schilling’s ‘Major Tom’. Note that the aforementioned bands hail from Europe and mostly the UK . It is somewhat surprising to hear a three piece from Brooklyn sound like something out of a dark corner of London from 1985, but Mirror Mirror pull it off without a hitch.

Aside from recycling and producing a new form of synth rock, Mirror Mirror are also part performance art taking great care to create costumes and sets as intricate and elaborate as their music. The visual images in their videos and stage show are somewhat angular, harsh and maybe a bit pretentious, but captivating nonetheless. It becomes imminently clear the music is a piece of the whole and the combination of their multi-layered 80s inspired darkness and visual representations make them intriguing if not down right enjoyable. Fans of their older stuff, however, should prepare for a slight departure.

Interiors is a stretch from their previous full length The Society for the Advancement of Inflammatory Consciousness which centered around a psych-pop dream like state with hints of Pink Floyd. Instead, Mirror Mirror plugs the acoustic guitar into 80s distortion pedal and embraces dark synths, restless beats, noise and epic melodies. The result is a 47 minute affair that is happy to be moody and contains surprisingly catchy and memorable choruses, though you’d be hard pressed to sing any as the lyrics are often washed out from the surrounding milieu; nevertheless, the tunes are designed to be stuck in the subconscious. Perhaps Mirror Mirror’s greatest achievement with Interiors is the way they make their prose about finding love sound cold and empty, yet combine their musical pieces to create an album that is oddly inviting and satisfying from start to finish.