★★★★★
If you didn't know that Cults' two members, Madeline Follin and Brian Oblivion, had split in the lead-up to making their second album, you likely wouldn't glean it from the first few listens. The mood is bright and dreamy, Follin's voice full of sugar, and the hooks through the roof. That the Manhattan indie pop band's songwriting transcends the couple's personal issues is testament to how strong it is. They save the pain for the yearning, bleak lyrics...
- nowtoronto.com
2013-11-21
★★★★★
Label:
Columbia Records
Release Date:
14/10/2013
FOLLOW PAUL FALLER
FOLLOW CULTS
Much has been made of the fact that the two members of Cults ceased to be romantically involved with each other prior to the recording Static. Indeed, it's quite possible that this album wouldn't exist if they hadn't split up...
- drownedinsound.com
2013-11-21
★★★★★
Cults' 2011 self-titled debut album was a triumph. Madeline Follin and Brian Oblivion's use of echo, fuzz and well-chosen spoken-word samples transformed their fairly standard indie-pop songs into something a lot more unsettling. The duo's follow-up, 'Static', sees them dial down the samples and lyrics about being abducted, to create something a great deal more human. As a result, 'Static' is a hell of a lot more emotional than its predecessor...
- www.nme.com
2013-11-14
★★★★★
Cults' eponymous debut pondered modern love against the backdrop of the bustling pace of life. Two years on, the San Diego-born, New York-based band are no longer also a romantic pairing, which seems to have given their music a giddier, frantic edge. Their second album remains indebted to 60s girl groups and bubblegum pop, but joyous songs are delivered through gritted teeth. "You and me, always forever," sings Madeline Follin at one point...
- www.theguardian.com
2013-11-07
★★★★★
?????????? Sophomore albums find themselves in an awkward situation of trying to recapture the success of the debut while still being able to stand on their own, avoiding becoming a Xerox of everything that worked the first time. With Cults, their 2011 debut rode on a wave of buzz following the viral success of "Go Outside" that made the band a household name before a record deal was even signed...
- www.glidemagazine.com
2013-11-04
★★★★★
The shroud of mystery that enveloped Cults leading up to its self-titled debut has all but vanished on the Brooklyn group's sophomore effort. The fascinating mixture of strange field recordings and lo-fi pop has been replaced with high-sheen gloss, thanks to warm-but-hectic production work from Shane Stonebeck (Sleigh Bells) and Ben Allen (Merriweather Post Pavilion)...
- filtermagazine.com
2013-10-24
★★★★★
While it may not have the immediacy of their brilliant -- and out-of-left-field -- self titled debut, Cults' noteworthy follow-up Static is still a better record than most. The Lo-Fi midnight musings of Madeline Follin and Brian Oblivion and the '60s girl group sweetness of Follin's vocals are both present and accounted for, as is the heart-aching beauty that their wonderfully simple indie pop songs evoke...
- www.ink19.com
2013-10-23
★★★★★
This Brooklyn duo's second album is a darker, more atmospheric take on their girl group-inspired pop, with a densely textured, psych-tinged sound featuring fuzzy guitars, ethereal organ, chirpy, reverbed vocals and lovelorn lyrics. 10/18/2013
-
- kexp.org
2013-10-19
★★★★★
Commitments are merely reflections of one's existing circumstances. What currently motivates Brooklyn duo Cults is a mutual pledge that extends beyond their contractual compromise as musicians, that of former lovers who hang on artificial support to further what they had already established. Mixing a relationship with business is never a simple matter, especially if a breakup is still fresh in their minds...
- www.noripcord.com
2013-10-16
Loading...
