Get ready to line up and drink the Kool-Aid. No sense in asking what’s in it or where it’s been—just know that Cults is coming to the Granada this Saturday, and you will miss the comet if you don’t go.
Despite the fact that the name of the band opens itself to a slew of entertaining puns, the advent of the indie-pop San Dieguns by-way-of-New York to our quiet little blue speck in a red sea is nothing short of musical awesomeness. I feel like I say this a lot, and that, in many ways, I am a broken record, but this is one of the many shows the Granada has and will continue to offer that any self-respecting music fan will kick themselves for not going to see.
Cults began in earnest as the collaborative project of Brian Oblivion (guitars, percussion, keyboards) and Madeline Follin (vocals) in 2010 with what has become known as the Cults 7”, a collection of three songs posted to their Bandcamp page with intentions no greater than exposing their music to a wider audience and, you know, just putting it online.
(Here is an interview with Follin about, well, all sorts of stuff.)
Their paltry offerings did more than that, however, as the duo’s exhibition burned through the web like a fever. The question for listeners rapidly changed from “Who is this” to “Where can I get more?”
Fast forward to June of last year; Oblivion and Follin released their 11-song, 34-minute debut, also titled Cults. The full-length record received much of the same gratuity that their 7” release did. It was an eclectic mix of late-50s and early-60s doo wop, some Motown, a little bit of punk, 80s pop, and ambient noise and samples that, according to Metacritic, garnered generally positive reviews.
Reviewers favored the album for many of the same reasons they favored the 7”; Cults paid homage to a sound which, though overdone by many in their scene, they happen to execute with equal parts earnestness and precision.
Reviewers also stated the band made the most of their sampling, which serve to only augment the music, not overpower it or hide bad songwriting. Take, for example, the sample of Jim Jones (get it, cults?) talking about the treachery of life. It doesn’t own the song, but it makes it a whole lot more interesting.
The songwriting on their debut, however, claimed widespread attention as well. The apparent romance between Oblivion and Follin didn’t prohibit the duo’s drawing upon love—with all its faults—as a major source of inspiration. Follin demonstrates the airy, wistfulness of love in “You Know What I Mean” when she says, (as quoted by many a music reviewer) “Tell me what’s wrong with my brain/’cause I seem to have lost it.”
Three things: one, that’s an excellent song title; two, that’s some wordsmithery right there; three, did I mention I’m in love?
Lyrics such as this are rife in Cults, along with enough studio sleight of hand to make David Blaine blush. But what about the live show? Well, being the enterprising young musicians that they are, Cults are touring with a five-piece band, including a drummer, a second guitarist, and a bassist.
As for the live execution, a review from the Orange County Register called a show they played at the Observatory in O.C. a “triumph”. You know who gets triumphs? Roman emperors and top-notch musicians, that’s who. The review stated that the band picked a sort of “best-of” for their set list, and that the addition of a full band gave the two founders a more stable rhythmic base from which the audience could better feel their charming and dreamy songwriting. Cults also treated the audience to some covers (Leonard Cohen’s “Everybody Knows”) and tracks not on the album—“The Curse” and “Slow Song”.
By all accounts, the transition from album to auditorium seems an easy one for Cults, thus making their show all the more worth it to see. Seriously, here goes the broken record again, but don’t miss this show. The promise evident in an act like Cults, going from internet obscurity to legitimate musical force and minor fame, is one not taken lightly. So long as they don’t blow their collective musical load they could be around for a long time. And your friends will ask you, “Where were you when Cults came? I heard that was an awesome show.” And you should appropriately respond “Front row center, getting doused in sweat and glory.”
Cults performs at the Granada Saturday, April 14. Doors open at 8:30 pm. Advance tickets are $12. Door tickets are $14. This is an all ages show.
–Brian Sisk
thegranada 