Joe Meek had an ear for greatness and a mind hellbent on destroying it. Typically thought of the British counterpart to American pop manufacturing legend Phil Spector, he composed most of his largest hits holed up in a three-floor Islington flat above a leather-based items retailer. He was fascinated with early digital music and esoteric necromancy in equal measure; he famously dismissed the skills of a younger Rod Stewart and referred to as the Beatles “garbage.” When he had sufficient of his landlady’s pestering concerning the ruckus he was making upstairs, he turned a shotgun on her, then himself. After his loss of life, archivists discovered hundreds of recordings he deemed unsuitable for public launch, together with songs he created for David Bowie. In his quest to create a sound larger than himself, Meek sabotaged his success within the title of his personal exacting requirements.
When Brian Oblivion and Madeline Follin first fashioned Cults over a decade in the past, the 2 bonded over a shared curiosity in Meek’s musicality and insanity, the way in which the primary begot the second. Since their 2011 debut, the New York Metropolis duo has channeled that affect into woman group gems with a sinister underbelly, writing songs about haunted homes that went down straightforward due to Oblivion’s twinkling piano and Follin’s helium-high vocal harmonies. On their newest album, To the Ghosts, Cults lean into the grim fantastic thing about Meek’s story, making an attempt to channel the darkness in his DayGlo melodies. 5 albums in, Cults sound simply as eerie and cheery as ever however battle to transcend the fleeting pleasantries of paint-by-numbers pop.
Lest we neglect their influences, the album opens with an echoing bell paying homage to Spector’s largest hits with the Ronettes. That music, “Crybaby,” does little to advance the band’s sound: From rhymes about an immature lover so facile they strategy parody to synth melodies that really feel recycled from earlier albums, it units the predictable tone of the file. When their songwriting does enterprise to new territory, it normally runs into a clumsy metaphor, as when Follin waxes poetic about apoptosis on “Cells” or contemplates why onions make her cry on “Onions” (it’s the sulfur).
The repetitive palette highlights why Spector’s teams transcended the march of time whereas Cults sound dated on arrival: Follin’s voice merely doesn’t carry the feel or strategy of singers just like the Shangri-Las’ Mary Weiss or the Crystals’ Dolores “Dee Dee” Kenniebrew. Throughout the album’s 13 songs, her voice strains in opposition to the band’s layered manufacturing (helmed by Follin and Oblivion, together with producer Shane Stoneback), combating a dropping battle in opposition to a very dense guitar riff on “Go away Dwelling” and speeding to maintain up with the propulsive electronics of “Behave.” Layered vocal harmonies stop her voice from falling into the background utterly, however her components usually really feel like an afterthought.
To the Ghosts is most promising when Cults veer from their woman group inspirations and experiment with dissonance on songs like “Eat It Chilly,” with its descending minor scales, fluttering synths, low kick drums, and twisting vocal inflections. Sarcastically, the band constructs probably the most participating potential future on a music that speaks actually of retreading one’s previous. As a guitar plucks out a winding melody in its last third, the band remembers the spellbinding sounds that made Joe Meek’s productions so immediately memorable. However with too few new concepts, Cults threat merely embellishing on the well-trodden melodies of their inspirations, too consumed by creating an immortal pop music to let it dwell within the second.
All merchandise featured on Pitchfork are independently chosen by our editors. Nonetheless, if you purchase one thing by means of our retail hyperlinks, we might earn an affiliate fee.
