Album Review: Cold Cave: Cherish The Light Years

If you’re unfamiliar with the story of Cold Cave, I’ll summarize it for you. Wesley Eisold, longtime stalwart of the Chicago hardcore scene in bands such as Some Girls and American Nightmare, realized one day that some of Fall Out Boy’s lyrics were quite similar to his. He then decided to sue his acquaintance Pete Wentz, which resulted in a writing credit on Fall Out Boy’s most popular albums and also, more importantly, a hefty out of court settlement. Eisold decided to use this to invest in a bunch of vintage synthesizers and form the synth-pop band he always wanted to be in. The first fruits of this project, named Cold Cave, were assorted EPs and 2009’s debut album, Love Comes Close. Since then, Cold Cave have been touring as a three-piece and acquiring new influences for this, their sophomore album, Cherish The Light Years. The first thing you notice is how much bigger everything sounds on this album. Whereas on Love the electronics were more minimalist and often devolved into experimental noise, Cherish sounds like a huge synth-pop album straight out of the 80’s, even though it is still dark. Live drums, guitar, and bass are everywhere, and Eisold’s vocals are stronger than ever before. He used to sing like Joy Division’s Ian Curtis, but now he sounds more like The Cure’s Robert Smith. Some songs even come close to Killers/Bravery territory. So, a much poppier album, and while not necessarily better than Love Comes Close, it is still extremely strong and a nice listen.

-Scott Kendall

LISTEN

Cold Cave

March 9th, 2011: Titan/Dancing With Paris/Exalt, Parts and Labour, Toronto, ON

          After hours of waiting, Titan finally took the stage. Doors were supposed to be opening at 8:00 but they didn’t open until 11:00, so all of the bands and the people working the show had to spend 3 hours standing around doing nothing. This changed at 11:30 when a band that can accurately be described as Michael Cera fronting Converge started to play. Titan are a crushingly heavy band, shaking the building to its foundations with every riff. But why are they fronted by Michael Cera you may ask? Well, their frontman doesn’t physically resemble the infamous character actor, but in speaking voice and in the way they talk they are almost one and the same. Between every song there was a lengthy and awkward speech about some random topic, and I felt as if I was within Youth and Revolt. But music-wise, Titan were the best band on the bill.

            Second to play were Dancing With Paris. They were kind of out of place on this lineup, noticeably more poppy and mainstream-sounding than the other two bands. Your average scene kid at a hardcore show would enjoy this band, but sadly there weren’t any of them at this show, so Dancing With Paris didn’t get much of a crowd reaction. Their sound was closely akin to Vanna, sounding like a throwback to 2006/2007 before scene hardcore bands discovered electronic and mainstream pop music.

            Playing last were Exalt, inventors of the sport of Garbagebottle. Garbagebottle was how the band killed the 3 hours of down time, and it entailed two band members standing behind a garbage can and throwing a crushed up water bottle into the other person’s can, and eventually a highly elaborate set of rules was written up. But anyways, on to their music. Exalt were definitely the most energetic band of the night, with their frontman seemingly devolving into a rage as soon as he stepped onto the stage, and often screaming without a microphone. Their music was intense post-hardcore both similar and different to Titan. Whereas Titan were slow and crushing, Exalt were fast, intense, and heavy all at once.

-Scott Kendall

LISTEN

Titan

Dancing With Paris

Exalt