Cheatahs
Mythologies (Wichita Recordings)
Cheatahs hails from London, UK, (despite being comprised of members from the US, Germany, England, and Canada) and with Mythologies, the band offers their sophomore full-length album after their 2014 debut and a string of EPs and singles over the past three years.
According to the band’s bio, Mythologies takes its name “from Roland Barthes’ 1957 collection of essays on semiotics and myth, which influenced the record along with such varied themes and inspirations as: Freudian ‘screen memory,’ the fluidity of recollection, meta-modernism, hospitalization on tour, syndicalism, dramatist Dennis Potter, Early music and neo-mysticism (to name a few).”
Judging by their attempt to contextualize their work in the most esoteric of terms, this is clearly a band that desperately wants to be taken seriously as artists.
Ok, we get it. You’ve more than proved how utterly pretentious you are.
But here’s the thing: while it would be easy to write the band off entirely from that one eye-rolling paragraph alone, you’d be missing out on a fantastic album if you did.
This is ambient art-punk music perfected: reverb drenched vocals soar indecipherably over droning distorted guitars, and underneath the textural soundscapes the band creates some infectious – if not hypnotic – melodies.
The band may have been beaten to their sound by the likes of Deerhunter, Viet Cong and even the criminally under-appreciated New Zealand band Die! Die! Die!, but Cheatahs’ songs are infinitely more listenable. In their poppier moments, the band even recalls the ‘90s experimentation of Sonic Youth and Smeared-era Sloan.
And while it’s obvious a great deal of experimentation went in to the creation of this album, however, it never sounds self-indulgent.
The music speaks for itself: Cheatahs are indeed artists. Gifted ones at that.
Rating (out of five): ★★★★
