Claudia Brücken / Night Mirror – new album on SDE-exclusive blu-ray

SDE exclusive blu-ray limited to 1500 units. Quick pre-order link

Claudia Brücken – of Propaganda and xPropaganda fame – will release her fourth studio album, Night Mirror, in July. The new album will be available across various formats, including an SDE-exclusive blu-ray audio which features a David Kosten Dolby Atmos Mix (amongst other audio streams).

Written and recorded in London between 2023-2025 with longtime collaborator John Williams, Night Mirror is a fantastic album, one that personally I spent weeks listening to and loving before coming to the decision to make this number 40 in the ongoing SDE Surround Series. Songs include the driving pop of ‘Rosebud’, (the first track available) the dark textures and crunch of ‘Sound And The Fury’, the warm glow and nostalgia of ‘The Only Ones’, the electronica of ‘Shadow Dancer’ (which has some very Pet Shop Boys-sounding synths!) and the yearning ballad ‘To Be Loved’. The production is brilliant – very layered which really lends itself to Atmos and 5.1.

For the uninitiated, Claudia Brücken first came to notice as the lead singer of Düsseldorf electronic music pioneers Propaganda, one of the first signings to ZTT Records. Propaganda enjoyed chart success with singles such as ‘Dr Mabuse’ and ‘Duel’ and their 1985 debut, A Secret Wish, is a classic, landmark electronic pop album. In 2022, with Susanne Freytag, Claudia formed xPropaganda and together with producer Stephen Lipson made the album The Heart Is Strange, which was No 2 in the SDE Surround Series and reached No 11 in the UK charts.

This project brings together a team of brilliant contributors that SDE has worked with before, including designer Philip Marshall who is responsible for the artwork (Philip did xPropaganda and worked on the Frankie Goes To Hollywood reissues put out by Salvo in the 2010s), David Kosten (whose Atmos Mixes for SDE include Paul Young’s No Parlez and the Thompson Twins Into The Gap) and Demon Music who worked with us on the Paul Young and Suede SDE Surround Series blu-rays.

The SDE exclusive blu-ray of Night Mirror features the following content:

• Night Mirror  – Dolby Atmos Mix
• Night Mirror – 5.1 Surround Mix
• Night Mirror – Stereo Mix
• Night Mirror – Binaural Mix (headphones only) 
• Night Mirror – Dolby Atmos Instrumental Mix
• Night Mirror – 5.1 Instrumental Mix
• Night Mirror – Stereo Instrumental Mix
• Night Mirror – Binaural Instrumental Mix

David Kosten’s Atmos Mix is very immersive, making full use of all the channels and the three dimensional space. We’re still looking for ways to make these blu-rays even better; trying to deliver great content, so for the first time on an SDE Surround Series release we are including ‘binaural’ mixes of the album (on Night Mirror, in both vocal and instrumental variants). These are for headphones-only. If you plug your headphones into your amplifier/receiver and select the binaural mixes you’ll hear the Atmos Mix over headphones, similar to how it is when you listen to Atmos Mixes via Apple Music. This works with ‘normal’ headphones, you don’t need special ones.

Night Mirror is a region-free blu-ray audio and is #40 in the ongoing SDE Surround Series. It will be packaged in a clear amaray case and ships with a free, collectible SDE Surround Series slipcase.

Because the xPropaganda The Heart Is Strange exclusive blu-ray release was so early in the SDE Surround Series, many people would have missed out, so with that in mind, we are doing a small repress of what was No 2 in the series that is available to order alongside Night Mirror. The Heart Is Strange blu-ray will come with an SDE slipcase, as per the original. The Night Mirror album is also available to pre-order on dark cherry-coloured vinyl LP. Bundles are available.

This Night Mirror blu-ray is exclusive to the SDE shop and is limited to 1500 units and it will be released on 4 July 2025, via Demon Music. Secure your copy by pre-ordering direct on the SDE shop using this link or via the pre-order buttons below.

Tracklisting

Night Mirror Claudia Brucken /

• • 1. My Life Started Today
    2. Rosebud
    3. All That We Ever Have
    4. Sound And The Fury
    5. The Only Ones
    6. Funny The Things
    7. Sincerely
    8. Shadow Dancer
    9. To Be Loved
    10. Dancing Shadow