CD Reviews

Cults | Cults 7''

Forest Family Records (2010)

By REYAN ALI | August 5, 2010

2.0 Stars

The duo who make up Cults have profited from having a dearth of info online. The three songs on their Bandcamp page sit alongside an album cover and the thinnest of details . . . and that's pretty much it.

Still, the way they've lit a flicker in the indie-rock press after so little activity has to make you wonder: why these guys and not the thousands of other acts lingering in obscurity? Cults 7", which came out in April, offers one answer: they sound as if they should have been popular ages ago, and the way they embrace nostalgia makes them feel new. Cults' trio of tracks is swelling, crooning '50s/'60s-bred pop from a bedroom project that time forgot.

"Go Outside" crystallizes youthful chants and sparkling glockenspiel with the optimistic imagery of a summer daydream. And yet, none of the material here is intriguing enough to justify the attention Cults have received. The most powerful moment is gone in a flash — the point in "The Curse" where singer Madeline Follin changes into a weepy doo-wop queen spilling soulful anguish against an organ in mourning. Otherwise, the cotton-candy pop is sweet but unsatisfying.

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