by Erica Coburn
A five-year wait for a follow-up album release is an ambitious time span for any reputable band. For an Irish band, it’s near lunacy when the constant contingent of Irish talent is rife and always chasing. If you don’t stay relevant, you’ll be quickly forgotten. Dirty Epics themselves will be the first to admit it has been quite a roller coaster since debut album ‘Straight In No Kissing’ was released in 2008. Fast forward five years, and ‘One Way Mirror’ was a long time coming from the new-wave Irish quartet and its pairing with producers Matt Paul and Declan Gaffney amalgamates post-punk tenacity with electro-pop.
Under The Knife is a heavy bass and drum opener, and illustrates from the outset the beefier and more substantial character this record boasts. The urgency and driving vocals of Sarah Jane Wai are ones that extend through the album’s entirety. Second track, Electric Ballroom again showcases much of what this album is all about. Heavy riffs, crunching guitar sounds, and impressive sultry vocals under more considerable and experimented audio.
Let’s Be Alone and Those Pretty Things are the albums stand out tracks. A boisterous bravado of sounds completed with cleaver catchy choruses makes them the albums sing along songs, but with a rambunctious vengeance. Current single Midnight Missing is a stomping of more drum and bass balanced eloquently with Wai’s ardent vocals.
There are particular points throughout the middle of ‘One Way Mirror’ which is faulted with generic mashing of audio that failed for me to concur with. However it is with the closing track that the consensus of the album changes. Surrender toys with the tempo. A gradual and slow release of softer sounds, it’s an impressive number that doesn’t necessarily conform to the tone commonly associated with the band.
Dirty Epics have honed their skill, and so erupts a tighter more formidable record in ‘One Way Mirror’. Given the attention they have garnered as a live proposition, a particular justice should be done to an album of such pizzazz and intensity. ‘One Way Mirror’ is a stellar sophomore album.