Gotye - Making Mirrors
"Somebody that I Used to Know" is easily one of my favourite singles of the year. Half musing thoughtfully and quietly (with glockenspiels), half unstoppable emotional outpouring, with a delicious right to reply coda supplied by Kimbra, it's actually even greater than the sum of its parts. It may yet be as big a hit in the UK as in Australia, Belgium and the Netherlands. It may not. We'll find out in a couple of months. Either way, those who haven't ordered the album from Australia (or, er, listened to it by either means), have been missing out on that and much more.
What Gotye does so well is doing the sensitive, singer-songwriter with 'organic' sounds and vintage sounding production thing and yet not in any way being hard work to listen to. Instead his album that's an approachable joy from start to finish. He even manages to get by with a frequent vocal resemblance to Sting and (on "Eyes Wide Open") lines like 'it's like to stop consuming is to stop being human' without ever coming across as pompous.
He's great at atmospherics, like the way that "Smoke and Mirrors" winds its way tentatively through downbeat self-doubt with the occasional shaft of light from harpsichord or brass, before turning into full echoing creepiness and bringing the brass back over clattering drums as a demonic fanfare. Or the softer but equally powerful creepiness of "Don't Worry, We'll Be Watching You". Or indeed the opposite, the happy jazzy devotion of "I Feel Better" and "In Your Light".
It's definitely to the album's benefit that he happily and effectively takes on so many different styles, just as comfortable with retro pop leaning towards MOR as with the albums odder moments. This is probably best demonstrated by the combination of the two on "State of the Art", an joyful ode to the transformational power of his keyboard which sees him narrating its buttons and settings on it as they trigger all kinds of noises. It's totally instant and warm, and totally unique.
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