After the letdown that IQ was, I didn’t have high expectations for Syd Arthur. And then Sound Mirror blew me away with the first notes and it didn’t get any worse later on.

Sound Mirror is psychedelic rock at its best. On the other hand, just stuffing it into a genre and then calling it a day would be doing it injustice. There is more to it than the dizzy Doors-like dreams: there are grungy spots that remind me of Noir Desir, almost country places, and I could keep going on.

The band must’ve been full to the brim with ideas when they wrote Sound Mirror. It’s so varied and without repetition that there aren’t two similar songs. Even at the slower spots, it’s so full of energy that it doesn’t get boring no matter how long I listen to it.

I like the way it’s mixed too. None of the elements in the music is pushed in the background. Everything gets its place, and the drums, the bass, the keyboards are having their fun just as much as the vocals or the guitars are.

Sound Mirror sure turned out to be a wonderful listening for this week.