In true ‘Ex fashion’, If Your Mirror Breaks picks up where 27 Passports left off, and erupts like a musical short story collection, a ten-part series of surrealist daydreams, calls to action, ominous warnings and bursts of vitality tapped into the pulse of time. What time could be more appropriate to release this album in, as the current one? Arnold de Boer, Katherina Bornefeld, Andy Moor and Terrie Hessels once again impress with their trademark urgency and creativity.
Starting from a staccato Walt Whitman poem from 1861 and wrapping things up with the unstoppable, joyful thrust of “Great!”, the new album by The Ex is equal parts exploration and determination, with wistful shades accentuating their live wire intensity, unpredictability and sheer determination. Yes, there are moments of doubt and insecurity (“reality is shifting / there is no escape”), of distress (“I get desperate / I feel the wide washing of death”), but time and again, perseverance wins. As Bornefeld sings so aptly in her beautiful contribution “Wheel”: “New life force unfolds for those who flow / with the song of their souls.”
De Boer has a striking way with images. Walls speak, spiders write and turning into an apartment block becomes a life goal. Imagination and language become a refuge, but also weapons in times of loss and division. When you’re not afraid to question yourself and realise, in James Baldwin’s words, that “You could be that person / Be that monster, be that cop”, you might find a way out of it. It’s the way we interact that defines us. If Your Mirror Breaks is an album that brims with passion and commitment, with three guitars, voice and drums ready to revitalize, or overthrow, the old formulas. It is rugged and fierce, connecting the dots between the swaying waltz of “Circuit Breaker” and the overflowing lava energy of “In The Rain”. Steve Albini, whom the album is dedicated to, would have approved.
With music (and words) as committed, poetic, exciting and imaginative as this, The Ex has made one for the ages. A work that reflects the conflicting ideas and moods of its time, while pushing forward, convinced there’s always a more viable alternative around the corner. It’s a process that never loses its thrilling buzz.
- Guy Peters, Geraardsbergen, 2025.
