Music is such a universal thing. It’s more than a language. It’s more than a series of notes. It’s elemental. It’s life itself. When you hear something like Drab Majesty‘s latest venture, Modern Mirror for the first time you will know exactly what I mean. To have to put into words the feelings that one goes through in listening to this album is almost incomprehensible but I’m going to try. There are already a group of Silent Ones who understand the obsession with this duo, known individually as Deb Demure and Mona D., but there are millions who have yet to be converted. Hopefully this review will prompt a few more to cross over.
From the ritualistic and meditative opening track, ‘A Dialogue’, you get the sense that you are being primed for a journey that will take you out of your senses and into a world unlike any you have known. As the track screams to a halt, Deb’s chiming guitar fills your ears for a few seconds heralding your arrival to ‘The Other Side’ as Mona’s sequenced keyboards join in shortly before the beat slams in to launch us full steam ahead.
The first single to be released was ‘Ellipsis’ with it’s multi dimensional chorus that is delivered in a few different harmonic styles rather then a simple “go back and sing the chorus” which lends such a uniqueness that you can’t help but gravitate back to the song again and again. ‘Oxytocin’ showcases Mona on lead vocal and is a bittersweet paean of the longing to feel the rush of first being in love, but we are reminded that, “nothing lasts forever, anyway”. The latest single is the album closer, ‘Out of Sequence’ which clocks in at almost eight minutes. A slow, dreamy intro that builds into one hell of a groove that goes on until there is nothing but guitar feedback to bliss us out to the end.
More than a worthy successor to their epic 2017 album, The Demonstration, this surpasses it and then some. You might not think so at first listen, maybe not even on the second. The album is so layered that you want to go back again and again to pick up on what you missed. The next thing you know, you will be telling your mates, co-workers and the person standing next to you in the bank queue about Drab Majesty. It is infectious in such a good way. Modern Mirror will no doubt be landing high or on top of many end of year “best of” lists.
