Mirrored

Battles unite process and expression, making playing that’s as quantized and mechanical as Kraftwerk sound as wild and urgent as Albert Ayler.

The way repeated listens allow its unobvious rhythmic and melodic logic to take root is fantastically rewarding.

Mirrored is a breathtaking aesthetic left-turn that sounds less like rock circa 2007 than rock circa 2097, a world where Marshall stacks and micro-processing go hand in hand.

They make heavy duty sound collages that rock, roll, and exemplify the increasingly small chasm between bliss and confusion. [#25, p.90]

At times, the effect is akin to hearing Tortoise and Animal Collective covering the Steve Reich and Devo catalogs in tandem; but such reference points barely do justice to an album that just halfway through 2007, is already topping the year's best-of list in multiple genres. [Jun 2007, p.151]

Every song on the 52-minute masterpiece builds and bridges until everything self-destructs and the only thing left to do is dance. [May 2007, p.92]

If the Flaming Lips mated with Marilyn Manson and ate Underworld for breakfast, the end result might sound something like Battles' debut album, Mirrored.

Whereas before in their career the four-piece seemingly tossed myriad elements about with little to no regard for the actual acceptability of the composition at hand, here each and every piece – pieces that truly do flow into one another quite magically – sinks into the listener’s synapses silkily, short-circuiting them through disbelief rather than a simmering intolerance.

Mirrored is a marvel, dastardly and wholly original as it is, and one of the year’s finest.

It's dance music that's hard to dance to and post rock music that's post what everyone else making post rock is doing. Oh yeah, and it's also one of the best releases of the year.

Powered by its fluid and seeming invincibility, Mirrored is almost frighteningly cosmic.

The indie-rock universe hasn't coughed up a record as rhythmically thrilling as Mirrored in ages.

Some listeners may find the album samey or too similar but one aspect of Mirrored that can't be disputed is that it is a unique album with little to no similar peers.

Mirrored is Battles at their most experimental and their most immediate, their most wanky and most focused.

Where before they gave the distinct feel of a quick side-project for a bunch of talented musicians who were currently in other bands, on Mirrored it's clear that their hearts and souls are in every one of these songs.

The outfit dispels any virtuoso vibe with their joyous absurdism. [Jun 2007, p.104]

While their sound might have progressed in an even more bizarre – if sadly less atmospheric – direction, it's still surprising, full of invention and totally unique.

It's easy enough just to drift off and let these tracks gently massage your eardrums like a hover of trained hummingbirds. But if you choose to look beneath the surface, each track audibly vibrates with ideas.

Mirrored is unlike any recording out there at the moment. It's loud, funny, and astonishingly sophisticated, and doesn't feel pretentious in the least.

Even if you’re not much of a cerebral-rock person, take a chance with this one—it pays off.

Rock that's both fist-pumping and forward-looking. [Jun 2007, p.90]

Worth catching. [Jun 2007, p.87]

Mirrored explodes with twisting grooves and obtuse angles. [Jun 2007, p.102]

Mirrored is a focused, exhausting, and rewarding treasure. [Summer 2007, p.78]

It works best when the songs sound in thrall to themselves, reacting in different ways while retracing steps, but it also fishtails into missteps ("Rainbow") that sound oddly like Mannheim Steamroller.

Battles combine the power of hard rock with an experimental aesthetic.

There’s nothing here that’ll shock experimental music acolytes, but it might be a bit much for those expecting only brawny post-rock. Like Goldilocks, I find it just right.

Give Mirrored a handful of listens and you might just enjoy having your brains splattered against your speakers.