The Critical Asshole: Listening to...

I present to you a lovely little debut summery album.  With classic female singing, none of this “white girl trying to act black” business, Cults bring to mind (heavily bring to mind) a Phil Spector-produced girl group.    Instrumentation is extraordinarily solid.  There is a heavy use of dramatic and percussive rhythm which seems to anchor this older sound in the present (e.g. “Never Heal Myself”).  It’s unfortunate, however, that a lot of the good things about this record are hidden behind a wall of shrill plate reverb turned up to 11.  The only time this works to a “Ronettes” type effect is during the track “You Know What I Mean.”  Or rather…it works the best on this track.  My prediction is this is more of a “one and done” type of group.  I’d love to see the duo live but I’m afraid my feelings would be hurt by a lack of talent and experience exposed by the harsh realities of live performance.  It’s worth a listen, but I seriously don’t expect a deep catalogue from this group.

Though I could be wrong…summer is always just around the corner.