Album number nineteen for the punk-rock veterans the ex, Dutch band who, despite continuous changes of training, preserves intact a creative frenzy and predilection for contamination with free-jazz, kraut and ethno-world germs. Also this time the time spent from the previous record chapter is well beyond the customs: if for “27 passports” the fans have waited eight years, for “if your mirror breaks” the time has reduced to “only” seven years. Statistics aside, the new project of the former is yet another demonstration of authenticity and expressive autonomy that transcend the boundaries of the predictability of a lot of contemporary production. The interlocking between Arnold de Boer's voice, the furious rhythmic geometries of Katherina Bornefeld and the granitic and grey of guitar touch of Andy Moor always works and remains faithful to the adveralistic anarcho-punk vision of the band.
“If Your Mirror Breaks” explores the neurosis of contemporary society, in the grip of a socio-political narcissism where the human being denies his own image reflected in the mirror, losing the last residues of a healthy empathy: mirrored neurons are the basis of modern neurological science, which has identified the physiological basis of empathy in them. That of the ex is music that digs in the visceral depths of the soul, borrowing the assorted rhythms of the rock'n'roll (“Beat Beat Drums” inspired by a poem by Walt Whitman), leaving anger and ferocity flowing with a verve that sometimes reminds the falls (“The evidence”) and the Gang of Four (“in the Rain”), generating new forms of forms of groove Post-punk that leave no escape to the listener (“The Loss”).
Unique performance Vowel of Katherina Bornefeld, “Wheel” is an intriguing, sghemba and moody ballad Folk, which opens the doors to a more reflective but equally disturbing and threatening nature (“Spider and Fly”), yet unusually introspective, melancholic, poetic, as well as marked by elegant waltz times (“Circuit Breaker”).
The ex album of the former keeps your title, putting on the field as a music as powerful and robust as fragile and constantly on the edge of the precipice (“Monday Song”, “The Apartment Block”), an insane balance that justifies the dedication of the album to Steve Albini and that finds the final seal in the splendid “Great”, a song from the sensual and convulsive rhythmic movements that go beyond the borders of the borders. Talking heads of “Remain in Light”.
“If Your Mirror Breaks” is an album where music and words play intelligently subversive and surreal, a disc whose only flaw lies in the probable long wait for a sequel.
10/05/2025
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM
