This heartbreaking track is a testament to how far Amy Gordon has come. From small town girl uploading covers to YouTube, to self-assured Norwegian songstress.
‘Smoke & Mirrors’, a stunning farewell to a demon from her past haunting her present, is a melancholic, gut-wrenching song. It starts off quietly, calmly. Amy is introducing us slowly but surely to the pain she has been holding within. The subject, as “cold as the wind in the night” is enough to make her “run faster” from the heartache that is so prevalent in her vocal delivery.
Then, incomes the cascade of a chorus. Amy’s voice is devastatingly beautiful. Our heart strings have definitely been plucked out of place by this point in the song, as we are carried back to the soft, eerie verse. Here, the instrumentals are laden with rhythmic hooks that make ‘Smoke & Mirrors’ sound like the perfect track to be sampled and made into a huge floor-filling remix. But its beauty is definitely in Amy’s pure, unashamed vocal: proving it’s a stand-alone track.
Finally, a cosmic guitar solo reminiscent of a Slowdive interlude sends us into the final crescendo of a chorus, as Amy’s visceral vocal echoes out one last time.
Listen now via Spotify
Review by Alicia Carpenter
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