German singer Claudia Brücken has had a long and busy career, initially defined by her role in Propaganda. They were a cult 1980s band on ZTT Records who laced their opulent synth pop with an appealingly morbid Teutonic sensibility. Decades later, it seemed they’d been forgotten until Brücken and fellow Propaganda singer Susanne Freytag released an album in 2022 as xPropaganda. It scooted up the UK charts. Her latest solo outing follows elegantly in its footsteps and contains good things.
It's far from her first non-Propaganda material. As well as once being in long-defunct duos Act and OneTwo, Brücken has worked consistently, solo and with artists ranging from Jimmy Somerville to trance bangers Blank & Jones. Night Mirror, though, sticks to a varied, stylish pop template that feels very much her own. Co-written and produced by John Williams, a storied music biz perennial who was also heavily involved with the xPropaganda album, it opens with the violin-laced “My Life Started Today”, which comes on like a tribute to Peggy Lee’s all-timer, “Is That All There is?” (“What happened before doesn’t matter,” she whisper-sings).
From there, Brücken bounces around the sonic palette. There’s the solidly Eighties electro-rockin’ “Sound and the Fury”, a hightlight with the riff from The Stooges “I Wanna Be Your Dog” somewhere deep in its undergrowth. There’s the squelchy Balearic “Shadow Dancer”. There’s twinkly slowie “Funny the Things”, which contains an incongruous but effective banjo. There’s the Latin jazz-synth cha-cha-cha slowie “Sincerely”. None of these are ostentatious but all have an easy, original charm.
It's not a steady journey. Some of the 10 songs are forgettable but, especially for fans, there’s enough here to be worth a dip. Whether you do or not, you can bet Claudia Brücken will have new material ready soon enough. Because that’s who she is.
Below: Watch the video for the title track of Claudia Brücken's album My Life Started Today
