Labels: Specialist Subject
Review by: Andy Malcolm
This UK band is new to me, singer and guitarist Louise Hanman was formerly in the band Flamingo 50 but I never heard them either. Anyway, this is a 4 song seven inch of enjoyable indie rock, with some poppy punk influences. Musically I would peg this somewhere between Skimmer and Superchunk, it’s energetic and catchy, based around driving melodies and Louise’s strong vocals. I guess it’s kind of amusing (to me anyway) when she sings just like Mac on “Hold on Hold on” but hey. It’s only really noticeable on that song, and it’s probably on purpose regardless. Through out these four songs Caves maintain a delicious knack of crafting a fine pop song, and injecting each one with the pace required to give it the oomf it needs to push it over the top. The slightly more low key “New Orleans” may be the single’s stand out, with strummed, repetitious guitar allowing the vocals to ease off the pedal, providing a nice contrast to the punkier efforts on here.
My only real knock here is in the production. It feels like it’s missing something, the energy doesn’t fly off the grooves like you might expect it to, feeling ever so slightly restrained. As good as this seven is, I think that with a little more care next time around, Caves will come up with something really exciting.