Getting sick of indie record labels deciding what sounds good? Then take a sip of Cults’ new EP, Cults 7″”. Started without any business-laden momentum, Madeline Follin and Brian Oblivion, two New York City film students, created this album on a whim and put it up on the music website bandcamp.com. Suddenly they became comparatively huge, with indie bloggers on Gorilla vs. Bear and Pitchfork lauding their adept pop sensibilities.
Sound too good to be true? There’s more. It’s free.
The first track, “”Go Outside,”” is a fluffy, airy number that opens with an irresistibly satisfying glockenspiel lick, which transitions into a full-fledged bass line as the drums kick in. It’s almost ‘60s-esque, and it’s beautifully dreamy. The accompanying music video is just as gorgeous and was recorded personally by the band with a Canon 5D in high definition.
Cults 7″”‘s next track is even more Motown inspired than the previous, as Oblivion intended, according to his post on news aggregator reddit.com. “”Most Wanted”” mirrors the contractions in “”Go Outside”” with a highly positive-sounding beat accompanied by melancholy lyrics: “”Up all night all alone, can’t you see I’m trying / Trying so hard to move on to the things I know / but what I most want is bad for me, I know.”” Disarming instrumentation leaves the casual listener completely unaware of these contradictions, though.
“”The Curse”” finally expresses angst with a blues-y guitar riff. The alternating blues strumming mingles with lyrics yelled by Follin and Oblivion to make for a grittier sound that nevertheless retains some softness, even as Follin yells about heartache: “”I knew that this was cursed / I never wanna see you again.””
The whole album oozes nostalgia and a fuzzy, hazy aesthetic that is as comfortable as a cloudy summer day. It’s a fresh sound in an indie market that is overflowing with electronic synth. Cults seem to be bringing back a more natural-sounding aesthetic.
Cults have found new ways to defy the mainstream in a genre that is becoming cannibalistically mainstream. It seems that, at least for now, their music is all about the art. They started the band for their own gratification, not to get famous, and it shows in their music. It’s soft, detailed and intricate.
Cults plan to release a full-length album soon, according to a March interview with Pitchfork. They remain unsigned, except with limited edition producers Forest Family Records, who produced 400 copies of their first EP.
Download the EP at cults.bandcamp.com
