polaroids of androids

It's fairly obvious that Melbourne's Dardanelles have the word 'haunted' circled on the white board in their rehearsal space. Everything on their debut long player Mirror Mirror is focused around creating theatrical and somewhat 'spooky' dance-rock numbers. They are fantastic at doing this and have their speciality down to a tee, however, the lack of emotion and monotone vocals make this record slightly too repetetive for our liking.

Musically Mirror Mirror is an ever-changing landscape of sharp sounds and complex rhythm sequences. However, the two-dimensional style in which the lyrics are delivered stall it from ever grabbing the listener and forcing them to pay attention. It doesn't quite fall into the tiresome patterns that similar new wave star-gazers Expatriate found themselves lost in with their debut record but there is definately a safe feeling about it. The finer moments are when the band unashamedly dive off into long instrumental battles where dualing sounds collide and fight at a rapid pace.

There are several fantastic moments that highlight the fact that Dardanelles are a notch above their competitors. They won't just disappear after this release and their international appeal is impossible to ignore. That said, the restrain on emotion that comes with every song makes it hard to get lost in this album. This ultimately means that in a few months time Mirror Mirror won't be jumping out of your collection, forcing you to wrap your ears around it again.