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Jun 29, 2011 Web Exclusive By Paul Bullock

Over the past year, the blog hype for Cults, the duo of Brian Oblivion (guitar) and Madeline Follin (vocals), has been deafening. It’s well deserved as they’re making a particularly potent strain of bittersweet, ’60s girl-group influenced pop music that just so happens to be very popular right now. After unleashing a handful of truly stellar tracks and making waves with a bunch of high-profile performances, the band has been embraced by a great number of tastemakers and trendsetters. This is always an exciting and dangerous position for a young act, especially when they get scooped up by a major label and rush to put a full-length out.

For folks unfamiliar with Cults, this self-titled debut will be an absolute delight. Follin’s Leslie-Gore-meets-Cyndi-Lauper voice is striking and sexy. The songs are straightforward and sugary but with a decided darkness. The structures are varied but familiar. Some of the tracks are even accompanied by samples of cult leaders (Jim Jones) or cult members to create eerie transitions.

For anyone already acquainted with the band, this LP will immediately be a little disappointing because three of the strongest of these 11 songs have already seen some sort of official release. “Go Outside” and “Most Wanted” were available for free on Bandcamp as well as on a Forest Family 7”, and “Oh My God” was featured as part of Kia and Adult Swim’s criminally underrated singles program. Three others, “Bad Things,” “You Know What I Mean,” and the awesome album opener “Abducted,” are certainly worth the download and could definitely justify a vinyl purchase.

Cults is a solid first album from a very interesting new voice in pop music. Here’s hoping there’s much more to come from these two. (www.cultscultscults.com)

Author rating: 6/10