Mike Bruno – The Sad Sisters

As a label, to be able to finally put this album out on the proper format is not only a privilege, but also a blessing, and most certainly an honour. These three words may have internal ties with each other, but when it comes to sharing The Sad Sisters with the rest of the world, all three have their own foothold in this fantastical forest of aural delights.

These tracks play their roles on this album quite well; each tells its own separate story, but weaves itself so well into the next that you may as well be listening to a single piece. Even the moment when the arm lifts from the record and the inevitable trip to the turntable commences, one finds oneself with a sense of anticipation and eagerness, rather than annoyance. Wine glasses sound in a heavenly chorus, slipping in and out of the headspace left from the beat of the strings (or wings) of Bruno’s guitar, simultaneously intricate and minimalistic, ultimately dark, and thoroughly uplifting. A voice of no small effort, at times harsh and others lulling, places complex melodies and harmonies alongside ambient washes of an otherwise quiet room’s natural sound, making way for the defined, powerful oscillations of synthesisers and instruments of unknown origin.