Looking Glass

by Jo-Ann Greene

Old and new combine on this sumptuous EP from synthi-gloom heroes The Birthday Massacre. The title track, "Looking Glass", is pulled from the band's Walking with Strangers album, a darkly lush, dance pop delight. Three other tracks from that set are also featured here, but all in remixed form. The driving dance of the gothy "Falling Down" now swirls about in a far more spacy and doomier realm, while the muscular goth pop of "Weekend" is reinvented as a Depeche Mode-y extravaganza. In contrast, the Depeche-esque "Red Star" now undergoes two transformations - initially into an airy, clubby delight, and then remodeled into lavish, electronica fare. That's the old, the new comes in the shape of "Shiver" and "Nowhere", the former a steamy, gloom-pop number powered by irrepressible beats. Its lyrical theme of a girl trapped in a cold, cruel world is recreated in the latter piece, a frigid instrumental wasteland swept by swirls of synths. And finally, there's the old made new, as the Birthday gang frolic darkly through the past, with a rollicking cover of Tommy James & the Shondells '60s hit "I Think We're Alone Now"...although it's probably mall rat supremo Tiffany's version they're intent on interring for good. A video of this number is also included. Something grand to keep fans going through the dark nights until the band's next album arrives.