One of my favorite aggressive musicians of the past decade has gone soft! But with names like Give Up the Ghost, and album covers like this, a turn to mellow town shouldn’t come as too big a surprise. When you have three seperate bands who each significantly ruin a genre by releasing the best albums imaginable, any common denominator will stand out as a star. Wesley Eisold is that common denominator, and despite the lack of bling, this guy is a star. He officially murders anything he touches, and Cold Cave is no exception.
Currently falling victim to trend appropriation, Cold Cave are often lumped in with Pains of Being Pure at Heart, and other noise-pop/ Joy Division revival bands. To me though, Cold Cave have the haunted past to put them above these other bands, making them more akin to A Place to Bury Strangers aesthetic with CFTPA delivery. Regardless of who they sound like, their dead-pan vocal delivery and often hypnotic synth make listening to them an entirely different experience.
Cold Cave – Theme From Tomorrowland
Cold Cave – The Laurels of Erotomania
Cold Cave – Love Comes Close
So there’s a few reasons to check them out tonight at Rotture, but I have yet to even mention the opening act: Former Ghosts. A veritable collective of some of my favorite underground musicians, Former Ghosts includes This Song is a Mess But So Am I’s Freddie Rupert and Zola Jesus’ Nika Roza. And, although his involvement is often downplayed in the press, the band would not be what it is without Jamie Stewart (of Xiu Xiu) on board.
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Posted By David Hutchinson
