BITTERSWEET

Toronto is a city near and dear to my heart and is a place I have become quite familiar with, but I have not heard of the Toronto-based band Mirrelia before until I was searching around in Bandcamp a few days ago. Considered a Crossover band, Mirrelia was formed back in 2010, and you would think there would be more music available from them by now, but other than a few EPs and a single or two, they haven't had much in the way of a discography after 9 years.

The band was formed by 3 members from the now defunct band "Closed for Tonight". However, the line up has changed quite a bit over the last decade. With the release of "Bittersweet" which was released in November of 2019, Nick Lobo is on vocals, Sung Jun Park is on guitars, Jimmy Lee does the bass and Carl Sequeira is on drums. This EP has a good number of tracks for a EP with 8 songs, but with a total run time of a bit over 31 minutes.

"Revolving Door Syndrome", the first track, will immediately come blasting through your speakers at full speed and volume, so check your volume before starting out. The vocals start out sounding clean and a bit young, but will quickly evolve along with the changing meters and heaviness, venturing into growling vocals and right back into clean vocals in the matter of a single phrase. All the while, the music remains surprisingly complex and heavy with the drums pounding out technically difficult passages while the guitar and bass keep things as complex and wild as the drums.

"Tivoli" stays in that complex style, with just a little more of a melodic edge and less harshness in the vocals, so maybe a bit more accessible, but then "Lovers" goes off in a completely different direction with more of a pop sound and lots of electronic manipulation. It almost sounds like a completely different band using electronic drum loops and keyboards. That combination of pop starts out the next track "2 AM Conversations", yet as it continues, it becomes more complex sounding. It's an interesting sound and can be a little annoying on the poppier sections, but yet innovative when the track moves almost seamlessly into complexity.

"Two Viles of Venom and a Mouth Full of Promises" only strengthens that pop-progressive combination which results in a unique sound that keeps you guessing whether you should hate this or love it. However, by this time, you are becoming used to this interesting combination and the complexity is definitely starting to sound better. The guitar melody that stands out on this track is quite appealing. "Liars" is similar to the softer, electronic and poppier sound of "Lovers", but is a short track of only a few minutes, and it kind of works to break up the more complex tracks. "Relapse" gives us some really great guitar hooks, and as in the first track, there is a great combination of clean and dirty textured vocals. The contrast is awesome in this track and the track just gets more awesome as it goes on as it sweeps you up in its power. The EP ends way too early when you get to the last track "Prophet Complex", and if you are like me, you have finally decided that you actually like this album. This last track combines the clean and harsh vocals again, but is a bit more melodic than the last track, but it moves along very fast and has its share of heavy bass and guitar hooks.

So, I began this review feeling quite critical about what I was hearing, but by the end, I am very impressed with this album. I love the contrast of the pop and complex progressive sound that permeates the album, and also the quickly changing vocal textures that go on in many places throughout the album. It makes me wish the band had more material, but it is one that I will definitely be watching for. The best way to describe it is a whirling study of contrasts.