Casualty Menagerie

This EP originates from an extraordinary place: apparently Sickert and female collaborator Edrie became Broken Toys after being betrayed and abandoned by their respective spouses at the same time. That wounding bleeds over this EP so much, you can all but smell blood leaking from their two hearts — but with an unusual approach. The music is like a mournful carnival of mirthless circus music dirges; like sad clowns who have lost their children, the bright tones of their toy pianos and music boxes are engulfed in a tragically melancholic toy accordion and sorrowful strings. These back Sickert's dismayed wailing, immersed in his reverse funhouse where the hall of mirrors has been smashed apart. But lest you think it all misanthropic moaning, Sickert's lyrics tie his spiritual bereavement to a time of endless war and tears in the social net, an expression that is as haunting as it is doleful. ~ Jack Rabid, The Big Takeover, Rovi