Never Say Forever

LA post-punk quartet Mirror of Venus arrive with their debut LP "Never Say Forever" (à La Carte Records, 11/27) — nine tracks, forty minutes of post-punk that treats atmosphere and urgency as the same problem. Joy Damert (vocals, synth), Margot Rhodes (vocals, guitar), Jose Espinoza (bass), and Heidi Weber (drums) first played together a decade ago in San Francisco's Mission scene and reformed in LA. The reference points span The Durutti Column's patient guitar architecture, Wire's economy, Siouxsie and the Banshees' vocal command, and Xmal Deutschland's dense percussive drive — with C86 shimmer around the edges and darkwave low end from Espinoza's parallel project Shock Doctrine. Post-punk.com on the title track: "hypnotic, melodic … culminating in a glorious hook." Themes of identity as performance and presence as commodity. Pressed on two limited 12" vinyl variants.