Claudia Brücken – Night Mirror

What does it sound like?:

Last year, Claudia Brücken celebrated a significant birthday with a round number. Bearing in mind she first enjoyed pop success in the eighties with German band Propaganda, you can guess which one it was. In fact, their first album, A Secret Wish, was released exactly forty years ago, a rather grand affair, typical of the label ZTT. The producer was Stephen Lipson “under the supervision of” Trevor Horn, but you can barely tell the difference. Brücken’s contribution to the songwriting and distinctive co-lead vocal, were an essential part of its character. The band quickly broke up in acrimony, fuelled by Brücken’s relationship with Paul Morley, when they discovered their contract meant they weren’t going to make any money, ever. Since then, apart from spending the nineties bringing up her two children, she has remained musically active furrowing the by-ways of the music industry, often working with others, including ex Propaganda members and OMD’s Paul Humphreys. xPropaganda’s The Heart Is Strange in 2022 was a third attempt at a reunion but only involved Brücken, Susanne Freytag and Lipson, and not Micheal Mertens and Ralf Dörper. It’s a fine album, if indicative of the complications of being in a band. Her second studio LP came out in 2012, twenty-one years after her first, a judicious selection of covers beautifully sung, her voice soft and warm when it was noted to be cold and dispassionate thirty years before. Night Mirror is just her fourth solo album. These ten songs, co-written and produced by long-term collaborator John Williams, reveal a new woman, ready to live life her way again.

The opening track, My Life Started Today, sees her ditching her ball and chain and never looking back. However, straight away, track two and first single, Rosebud, indulges in wistful nostalgia and she spends the rest of the album reflecting on relationships, past, present and future, good, bad and indifferent. The sound is a lush, sensual Synth-Pop, as though the machines have matured with her since her youth. The songs are musically adroit, reflecting her generally positive outlook, and the lyrics refined, telling small but exquisite personal truths as she carefully negotiates a tortuous path through the minefield of love. Soon, she is participating in swoonsome romance, suffering heartbreak, having a flaming row, licking her wounds, enduring a dark night of the soul, and emerging fresh and vibrant as a twenty year old to dance on tables. The most club friendly track is Shadow Dancer, and its reprise, an intimate to and fro with a mysterious partner, conducted at the dying of the day. On To Be Loved, she yearns for a simple life and, like The Beatles, concludes that love is all you need, though she seems to have a particular individual in mind. Lucky man.

What does it all *mean*?

Claudia Brücken might have considerable baggage but don’t let that put you off. Judging by this album, she’s great fun and still has a lot of love to give.

Goes well with…

Night Mirror is surprisingly seductive, a real pleasure for the ears. It’s her strongest collection of songs, perfectly realised and, by rights, should feature highly in The Afterword end of year poll.

Release Date:

4th July 2025

Might suit people who like…

Fabulous women of a certain age.

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