Cults got some attention last year with their release of the supremely catchy indie single "Go Outside." Some of that attention was from major labels, like Columbia Records, who signed the freshly-minted band and released their debut album "Cults." Some of that attention was from the usual indie blogger-bullies who couldn't wait to jump off the Cults bandwagon upon hearing that news.
Cults seems to have surprised a lot of people with their new release. The sound is consistent enough with the first single; 60's-era girl group kitch, tinged with ambient sound and electronica, all drenched in reverb. Beneath the bright and beautiful pop sound is a core of lyrical darkness - the band's name is "Cults" after all.
The songs here are all consistently pretty, but also a little emotionally unhinged - if not sinister. Hearts are torn out on "Abucted," where the antagonist admits "I never loved her." In "I Can Never Heal Myself," more teenage heartbreak as frontwoman Madeline Follin pleads "tell me all the things that you thought weren't right about me." "Most Wanted" laments that teenage loss of innocence, the lure of the darkness, away from childhood loved ones and toward "flirtation, drug use, and adultery."
A solid record that we'll likely remember as one of the best of 2011.
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