All Them Witches: House of Mirrors
I’ve been a fan of All Them Witches for a long time, but I’m still struggling to decide how I feel about their new record. The musicianship is undeniable and the writing is sharp, yet something about the vibe is hard to point out. It just feels slightly different from anything they’ve done before. The band almost called it quits in 2024 after founding drummer Robby Staebler left, taking his restless style and eerie visual aesthetic with him. guitarist Ben McLeod didn’t sugarcoat how fragile things were, saying, “At the time, we weren’t planning on keeping this going.”
Everything changed when Christian Powers joined as a touring fill-in. vocalist and bassist Charles Michael Parks Jr. called the transition a “breath of fresh air” after a period of “suffering,” noting that the new lineup “re-sparked our love for performing and writing.” That reawakening led them to Blackbird Studio in Nashville, where they recorded “House of Mirrors” in less than a week with producer Eddie Spear.
Critics have praised the “mature evolution” and “assertive clarity” of Spear’s production. He helped the band trade its history of hypnotic, nine-minute psychedelic jams for shorter, more structured tracks. McLeod admitted that the song “Starting Line” was “totally different before Eddie came into the process,” starting as a minimal acoustic demo before Spear helped them “crush the recording” into a full-band production.
I don’t see the shift as a question of quality; to me, this album is just a different cut of steak. Some people like a New York strip, others prefer a filet mignon, and others are looking for a ribeye. What seems “mature” to critics feels to me like the band is working with a more restrictive palette. I’ve always thought their range was deep and wide, and here they are narrowing their focus. It isn’t as immersive for me as my favorites: the revelatory mysticism of “Dying Surfer Meets His Maker,” the heavy experimentation of “Nothing as the Ideal,” or the swampy, backwoods stomp of their debut, “Our Mother Electricity.” But because they are so adept at their craft, they make that tighter focus work. I suspect it is a record that could grow on me over time.
Allan Van Cleave’s return on keys and violin adds a certain texture that was missing from the band’s 2020 trio effort. While his role is more about adding depth than driving the writing, his influence is still there; Parks noted that Van Cleave wrote the chord structures for the bluesy “Aethernet.” His violin on “Hold Up, Say What?” is a highlight of a record where the crescendos are often more about emotion than sheer volume.
Thematically, the record is heavy. The mysticism of the early years has turned into an internal confrontation. Parks says these songs deal with “fictitious roles that are placed onto you by the world” and the struggle of “following your own moral compass.” It’s a record about the “burden of knowledge” and the messiness of individual identity.
Ultimately, “House of Mirrors” might be the perfect gateway drug to get new listeners into the band’s discography without alienating the old fanbase. All Them Witches haven’t lost their touch and despite the recent upheavals they’ve managed to make this new, tighter approach work.
