Labels: Honest Abe
Review by: Andy Malcolm
That whole indie/emo thing. One of the most mis-hyped genre’s ever. There it was, existing ever so happily, bands churning out some of the most incredible independent rock of the 1990’s. Braid, the Promise Ring, Christie Front Drive, Cap’n Jazz, Giants Chair, Boys Life, Ethel Meserve, Boilermaker, Sunny Day Real Estate, and hundred and one more obscure bands like Bells on Trike (laying claim to most daft bicycle related name many moons before Small Brown Bike). And then. Hundreds of bands attempting to mimic these band, yet failing miserably because they misunderstood what elements made the cool bands cool. Bands hyped up for no apparent reason. One thing leads to another and indie/emo ends up in the pathetic state it is in now. It’s a sorry state of affairs when Hey Mercedes is about the only band that rips off Braid with any state of respectability. Too many bands with too good production, too much polish, too little spirit, too little innocence and fuck it, too little of that undefinable little thing called emo. Quantity over quality. Why did they steal this music and make it so boring? I hate them for it.
Aherm, apologies to the Cosmos for using this review as a forum for my once yearly rant on this subject. I have to get it off my chest once in a while, it is cathartic.
The Cosmos, defying those bands and rekindling the dying embers of a once awesome style of music. They don’t see the need to overdo things, to chase after cleaning up the music and vocals to the extent that the music loses any of it’s invigorating flavour. This is the spirit of ’96 once more, but existing in the year 2k2. Maybe the band had no intention of being tied to that era, but that’s how it sounds to these tired ears. I apologise to them if I am clutching at straws. If they just were going out and making whatever music they felt like, which is highly likely, but on songs such as the mind-bogglingly awesome “what’s black and white” and the 30 Degrees Everywhere-esque, Promise Ring-tastic “Why Do I Remember?” they just ooze the ’96. And it doesn’t sound weak or false or trite. It just sounds right. Why do I not get to hear bands like this any more? I am sure there are others out there, but I guess I am just not going to stumble upon them any time soon.
Ok, so a lot of the stuff on here is straight up poppy indie with healthy doses of fun and innovation (such as the electronic additions and video game samples), but the tracks that nail this as a record I want to hear regularly are those that hark back to those days gone by – be it in the song structures of the jangly guitar sounds. Blame my state of my mind, blame my inability to move with the times, blame this band for being any good. Whatever. I like it, and along with other less than luminaries such as Chocolate Kiss, the Cosmos returns an aura of respectability to the much tainted halo that the indie-emo angel wears. Thankyou to the Cosmos, your album makes my daily trek to work that much easier.