River Mirrors
Independent
Infinity Broke is the musically subversive brainchild of Bluebottle Kiss frontman, Jamie Hutchings, and various former bandmates. River Mirrors is indie rock’s monstrous mutant sibling, grasping at listeners with metahuman appendages and enthralling with its left-of-centre compositions.
Gallows Queue starts the album somewhat weakly, however. Hutchings’s pitchy vocals lack the conviction amply supplied in later tracks and the cool, smooth melody seems somewhat out-of-sync with the rest of the album. From then on, however, the album descends into tempestuous, post-grunge guitar work and slicker songwriting. This is an album characterised by its guitars. While the songs are often provided a solid base of tom-propelled grooves and Hutchings’s whiskey bar vocals maintain the story throughout, it’s the guitars’ dynamic proficiency and daring riffs that give some gravy to the album’s meat and potatoes.
Other highlights include the refreshing blues numbers, No Mirrors Here and Napoleon Aged Three, the 11-minute noise odyssey, Monsoon, and the final track, Termites, with its dark, apocalyptic feel.
SHAUN COWE
