New Music: Mirror of Venus – Surrender

Life changes led to a hiatus for the then San Francisco based members of Mirror of Venus, but life has a way of giving you second chances.

A decade after first playing together, the post-punk quartet – Joy Damert (vocals, synth), Margot Rhodes (vocals, guitar), Jose Espinoza (bass), and Heidi Weber (drums) – now find themselves in Los Angeles, together once again, with their debut album, Never Say Forever, out next month.

Surrender indicates that we’re going to get some quality post-punk with a proto-shoegaze buzz to it. Adorned with vocals that have the netherworld nocturnalia of Siouxsie Sioux and the fragile beauty of a young Elizabeth Fraser, the changing textures of the arrangement are well matched. The closest comparisons in terms of sound and style are bands from an earlier time: Sad Lovers & Giants, Wire, and Xmal Deutschland, makers of music that stands in splendid isolation, awkwardly placed within genres that they surpassed and side-lined in turn.

Never Say Forever will be released on the 27th of November via à La Carte Records. However, you can pre-order it right now in a range of vinyl formats on Bandcamp. Surrender can be heard on Spotify and Apple Music. For more listening options and album news, connect with Mirror of Venus on Instagram.