Gotye’s Making Mirrors [8.2]

Eyes Wide Open – Gotye

Making Mirrors, the third studio release from Belgian-native Gotye (@gotye), is the portrait of a man as restless as he is brilliant. The result of a genius-level obsession with sound and an enormous multi-instrumental talent, Gotye explores everything from retro-futurist reggae and chillwave to 80s-pop, dreamily channeling the hurry up and hustle of artists such as Hall and Oates and Phil Collins.

The album’s first single, “Eyes Wide Open”, is dark, digital and heavy, with beating drums to create a truly stunning first impression. Following next, and continuing with this solemn but powerful theme, is a shift to the Wurlizter-driven, creepy and shimmery “Smoke and Mirrors”, the inward-looking story of a guilt-ridden man who compromises his own morals for success.

Gotye’s sound, however, has the capacity to shift towards something entirely different than the melancholy of the first few songs. The retro-soul of “I Feel Better” and the 80s glory of “In Your Light”, allow listeners to step back from his brooding poetics long enough to simply smile and dance. He always returns from the manic, happy detours, though, with songs such as the island glo-fi “State of the Art”, which lyrically channels Michael Franks.

With so many disparate genres and sonic moods tessellated together on Making Mirrors, the album feels almost as though it were the soundtrack to a movie. There’s definitely a narrative at work, and Gotye is simply impatient to display the full range of his musicianship and storytelling ability.