Release Date: February 22, 2011
A few years back, iTunes ran a series of ads with silhouettes dancing virtually unknown pop bands. They featured songs like “C’mon C’mon” by The Von Bondies, “Jerk It Out” by The Caesars, “Flathead” by The Fratellis and “Shut Up and Let Me Go” by The Ting Tings.
Forgettable vocals with basic yet catchy guitar riffs are iTunes’ bread and butter. Half of the new album by The Cave Singers sounds like it could be in one of those commercials. The album, No Witch, was nothing special to begin with, but that select group of songs managed tProxy-Connection: keep-alive
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corrupt the entire album.
When the album doesn’t sound like a Best of iTunes soundtrack, it gets bipolar. There are traces of several artists on No Witch, but the band’s desperation to be the next great indie group reveals their effort to be a façade.
The group wants its cake and to eat it too, but credit is due for being so willing to test out the several genres they did. “Falls,” the fourth track, is gritty, stripped down and not overwhelmingly bluesy. However, the song still maintains a connection to the genre’s roots with its gospel chorus line and use of the organ.
Even more distracting than the group’s willingness to whore themselves out for attention is singer Peter Quirk’s voice, which is freakishly similar to Neil Diamond’s—it’s almost comical how the two are nearly identical. It’s not a bad thing, but when a band is trying to win over the indie community, it might be smart to make some musical adjustments before people start referring to the group as “The one with the guy who sounds like Neil Diamond.”
It sounds like The Cave Singers listened to Bruce Springsteen’s “Born In The U.S.A.” a lot when they were writing this album. Several of the songs—at least among the ones iTunes wouldn’t want to put in a commercial—have the same structure and sound as “I’m On Fire.” The soft guitars and brush drumsticks are a nice ode, but one can’t shake the feeling the band is trying to rip off The Boss.
“Outer Realms,” the fifth track, is the kind of song you’d expect to hear at a Velvet Underground cover band’s show. The forced sense of psychedelia permeates throughout the song. The weak intro is filled with generic tribal drumbeats—which are, in themselves, horribly cliché. The drumbeats strengthen the argument that this band wants both mainstream acceptance and to be recognized.
There is no part of No Witch that sounds like an original idea. Every lyric and guitar riff sound like the band trying to replicate a group or artist that has inspired them in one way or another.
A group knowing its idols and showing their influence in their work are signs of a great band, but shamelessly copying their sound and passing it off as something original begs a question. At this album’s core, it’s no different from a karaoke contest at a dive bar.
The Cave Singers – No Witch Tracklisting:
- Gifts and the Raft
- Swim Club
- Black Leaf
- Falls
- Outer Realms
- Haller Lake
- All Land Crabs and Divinity
- Ghosts
- Clever Creatures
- Haystacks
- Distant Sures
- Faze Wave
- No Prosecution If We Bail
