Friday, January 9, 2009

Lights And Music (But No Lyrics)

Artist: Cut Copy
Album: In Ghost Colours
Year: 2008
Grade: 3.5 pretzels

My first experience with Cut Copy was at a Franz Ferdinand concert about four years ago. They were the first opener and, to be gentle, they sucked viciously. They subjected the poor audience to twenty-five minutes of derivative synth-pop bullshit and nonsense. No one in the band ever seemed to be playing any instruments. Instead, backing tracks were abused, making the whole show into nothing more than a glorified DJ set. I left that night feeling sure that Cut Copy would never, ever achieve any level of success.

Well, long story short, I was completely wrong. Last March, In Ghost Colours went to #1 on the charts in Cut Copy’s homeland, Australia. Music critics were in rapture over the album. It even appeared in the very extreme reaches of the Billboard Charts, peaking at #167, which may not sound like much, but is a monumental achievement for an Australian synth-pop throwback band. I spent all of 2008 in denial that a horrible opening band I saw four years ago could actually, honestly be good. But I’ve finally started to overcome my irrational hatred for Cut Copy and I can admit that this record is pretty damn good.

I have literally no critiques about the music. No matter what your opinions on 80s synth-pop are, Cut Copy have nailed the sound of the best synth-poppers perfectly, particularly New Order. In fact, the sonic debt Cut Copy owes the Manchester boys is staggering. Every element that made New Order’s music great is here and accounted for on In Ghost Colours: shimmering synth washes, dark pop hooks and propulsive, liquid basslines. Yet, somehow, In Ghost Colours never sounds like a purely derivative cash-in of another band’s sound. The music here succeeds in an “imitation-is-the-sincerest-form-of-flattery” kind of way.

However, there’s one huge difference between Cut Copy and New Order. New Order’s Bernard Sumner was an innovative and surreal lyricist, dealing in themes of power, control, helplessness and other fun psycho-sexual drama. Cut Copy’s Dan Whitford, however, has peppered his gorgeous songs with some of the most contrived romance clichés this side of a seventh-grade girl’s notebook. It’s an album full of “hearts on fire” and “hands brushing” and so on. “Lights and music…are on my mind…,” Whitford says on the single “Lights & Music”; “Bully for you,” I say.

There’s an easy argument about how lyrics shouldn’t matter in music that’s made for dancing. If it gets your ass shaking, who cares what they’re singing about? My response to this argument is twofold. First, I care. So ha! But second, when a band like New Order have already done the kind of music Cut Copy are trying to make, but done it with great, insightful lyrics attached, they’ve set the bar high. They set a standard for great music in that vein. To my complete amazement, Cut Copy have reached that bar musically. The lyrics, however…they’ve got some catching up to do.

1 comment:

  1. Was that the show where TV on the Radio opened for Franz Ferdinand too? That's so weird, I don't even remember learning the first opener's name, I just remember them sucking.

    They sure have come a long way.

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