Just a couple of months after
Chasms
'
Jess Labrador
and
Shannon Madden
released their accomplished debut album,
On the Legs of Love Purified
, the unthinkable happened: On the night of December 2, 2016, a fire swept through the underground warehouse venue Ghost Ship that took a huge artistic and personal toll on the Bay Area indie music scene. Among the fire's 36 victims were
' close friend and frequent collaborator
Cash Askew
of
Them Are Us Too
Madden
's brother Griffin, who was just 23.
dealt with their loss the only way they could -- through their music. They played dates just days after the tragedy, and ultimately moved to Los Angeles for a fresh start to their music and lives. This sense of transformation permeates
The Mirage
.
brimmed with dense, velvety songs to get lost in; this time,
Labrador
hone their sounds and moods with results that, if possible, are even more expressive and ethereal than before. The duo uses ghostly dub and minimal electronics as
's foundations, and its echoing, shimmering songs express the hollowed-out aftermath of loss and fleeting memories of loved ones with eloquence. On tracks such as "Deep Love, Deep Pain" -- a title that defines the album's guiding forces perfectly -- and "Every Heaven in Between,"
's otherworldly soprano floats through cavernous spaces embellished with glassy guitars and synths, delivering mantras that teeter between soothing and despondent. It's a sound that feels like a liminal space between the classic
4AD
Projekt Records
aesthetic of the late '80s and early '90s and the future of dream pop.
grow even more innovative on
's later tracks, adding a purposeful pulse to "Tears in the Morning Sun" and reclaiming the heaviness of their debut on the title track, where massive drums give way to a storm of distorted guitars. As much as they evolve on
,
never lose sight of the album's inspirations. By closing the album with two versions of "Divine Illusion," the first song they wrote after the Ghost Ship fire, they underscore that
's deep love, deep pain, and deep beauty is all in service of the loved ones they lost. ~ Heather Phares