Mirrors (band)

Mirrors are an English synthpop band originating from Brighton who formed in 2008. The band consists of James New (lead vocals and synthesizers),[1] James Arguile (synthesizers) and Josef Page (electronic drums). They prefer to describe their music as 'electronic soul'[2] and 'pop noir'[3] with their main instruments being analogue synthesizers.

For other uses, see Mirror (disambiguation).
For the Cleveland proto-punk band, see Mirrors (Ohio band).

Mirrors
Background information
OriginBrighton, England
GenresSynthpop
Years active2008–present
LabelsPure Groove, Moshi Moshi, Skint Records, PIAS Recordings
Members
  • James New
  • James Arguile
  • Josef Page
Past membersAlly Young
Websitemirrorsofficial.bandcamp.com

Their brand of synthesizer driven pop music is commonly compared to the sound of bands such as Kraftwerk, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Depeche Mode and Blancmange. They released their début album in February 2011 called Lights and Offerings[4][5][6] which was promoted by a number of singles in 2010 and 2011.

History

Formation (2008)

Mirrors were formed by James New and Ally Young after Mumm-Ra broke up in 2008. The two met in Brighton in 2008 and started working on the idea of, according to them, the ideal group, in May 2008. James: "This ideal group would have visuals as part of their live experience. It would have things going on on pavements. It would play in the middle of a room."[7]

Once the basics were set, James Arguile[8] would soon join the group followed by Josef Page, leaving behind him a promising career in hospital administration, as the final member and they started working on their visuals which would include suits and ties and keeping control over their artwork and videos.

"Look at Me" / "Into the Heart" (2009)

Their first live performance was in May 2009 at New Hero in Brighton. After demoing some songs that year such as "Fear of Drowning", "Hide and Seek", "Searching in the Wilderness" and "Write Through the Night" (called "Organ Song" as a demo, because of the heavy usage of organ-soundlike synthesizers), the first single would become "Look at Me",[9] released through the Pure Groove label, supposedly to be limited to just 200 copies on a one-sided red vinyl 7".[10] Soon after their first release they signed up with Moshi Moshi and released their second single, "Into the Heart" in November, which also featured a new B-side called "Lights and Offerings", a title they would use in 2011 for their début album.

Lights and Offerings (2010–2011)

After this they came to the attention of Skint Records. Skint Records appeared to be an obvious choice, because the label is from Mirrors' home town Brighton, making face-to-face contact much easier.[11] The label also understand their goals and artistic direction.

Mirrors continued with performing the occasional gigs in the United Kingdom[12] until they headed into the studio in June 2010,[13] working on their début album. Having written most of the material already in 2009, the album sessions could be finishing in just one month. The first single from these sessions was "Ways to an End", released on 23 August as a download and 7" vinyl single. They toured as a support act for Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark in November 2010[14] and released two more singles and a special tour EP before their début album Lights and Offerings was released on 28 February 2011[15] in the UK and on 18 March in Europe.[16]

They started touring as a headline act on 12 April 2011 in Cologne, Germany and supported Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark in Spain in June.

A fourth single from the début album was released on 6 June 2011 being "Look at Me" with the double A-side "Perfectly Still".[17] The single was previously released in 2009 on the Pure Groove label. The new single features a new remix by Simon Thornton.

Mirrors' first documentary was aired on Channel 4 on 9 June 2011 at 0:35am GMT[18] as part of the 4Play program. On 8 July 2011 they performed live in Berlin, Germany, at the Michalsky Stylenite fashion show which was streamed live on the internet[19]

On 16 August 2011 Mirrors announced that they cancelled the September performances with OMD plus their performance at Bestival, Isle Of Wight, as they were working on new material.

Radioactive Man released a remix of the Mirrors' track "Ways to an End" on 12 September 2011. The digital bundle contains a remix and an instrumental version of the aforementioned remix.

On 13 October Ally Young announced he was leaving the band.

Two new songs were made available on the band's Myspace account and SoundCloud on 19 October 2011. They also confirmed that the remaining three band members will continue and are back in the studio recording further tracks.

Skint released a digital compilation EP of previously released remixes plus a few new ones, entitled Deconstructed.

This Year, Next Year, Sometime . . . ? (2012–present)

Mirrors released a new digital EP on 26 January 2012, called This Year, Next Year, Sometime . . . ?, in order to finance their potential second studio album. The EP contains the two new songs that were made available in October 2011 plus five previously unreleased demos, which were recorded either in the last couple of months or during their first album session in June 2010.

Discography

Albums

EPs

Singles

Promotional releases

The releases below were issued on CD for promotional purposes only.

  • Coming 2010 (2009)
  • Remixes (03/2010)
  • Mixtape (07/2010)
  • Theme Time Radio Ear II (08/2010)
  • Theme Time Radio Ear III (09/2010)

References
  1. "Q & A - MIRRORS - The Recommender". Archived from the original on 12 June 2012. Retrieved 16 April 2011.
  2. "Mirrors, Audio, Brighton, Sep 25". The Argus. 27 September 2010. Retrieved 25 May 2023.
  3. "This is Fake DIY album review \website=Thisisfakediy.co.uk". Retrieved 20 April 2011.
  4. "NME album review". NME. 24 August 2010. Retrieved 12 May 2011.
  5. Price, Simon (6 February 2011). "The Independent album review". London. Archived from the original on 15 May 2022. Retrieved 12 May 2011.
  6. "Drowned in Sound album review". Archived from the original on 11 October 2012. Retrieved 12 May 2011.
  7. "RCRD LBL: Mirrors - Ways To An End". Archived from the original on 5 November 2010. Retrieved 15 April 2011. So the pair met up one day in May 2008 and plotted a strategy to transform all this disappointment into inspiration. They specifically talked about what an ideal group should be.
  8. Lester, Paul (13 March 2009). "The Guardian: New band of the day". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 12 May 2011.
  9. "Drowned in Sound: Mirrors - 'Look At Me'". Archived from the original on 9 March 2011. Retrieved 12 May 2011.
  10. "MIRRORS - Fan Questions". Mirrors.fanbridge.com. Retrieved 15 April 2011.
  11. "Interview: Mirrors". Archived from the original on 24 January 2011. Retrieved 20 April 2011.
  12. "NME Mirrors set to play Club NME KOKO this Friday (August 27)". NME. 24 August 2010. Retrieved 12 May 2011.
  13. See page 1 in the Lights and Offerings CD booklet
  14. "Drowned in Sound: OMD meet Mirrors: 30 years of electronic music". Archived from the original on 9 March 2011. Retrieved 12 May 2011.
  15. "MIRRORS Lights And Offerings". Archived from the original on 10 January 2011. Retrieved 15 April 2011.
  16. "Mirrors – Lights and Offerings (VÖ. 18.03. CD/Digital)". Pias.com. Retrieved 15 April 2011.
  17. "Facebook wall post". Facebook. Retrieved 15 March 2011.
  18. "4Play - Episode Guide". Channel4.com. Retrieved 6 June 2011.
  19. "Michalsky StyleNite LIVE". Archived from the original on 10 July 2011. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
  20. "Chart Log" (TXT). Zobbel.de. Retrieved 25 May 2023.
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