SEVEN NOISES

Back in June I reviewed Edsel & Ruby, the EP that included Cold Cave's most pop and radio friendly song: Love Comes Close. And thanks to that song and what has come afterwards, his first proper LP named after this song and the signed up to Matador, the status of this band has changed from hardly known to one of the most talked about discoveries of the year. And as they know this is so far their "Smells Like Teen Spirit" they released a limited 12" record called Death Comes Close that, for what the name implies, should work as a dark side reverse of the album. Nevertheless, this couldn't be more wrong. To start with, they include (again, and counting 3 times so far) their capital song in the very same version to squeeze a bit more its achievements now that they can be introduced to the larger amount of people that the Matador imprint can reach. Anyway, the interesting part of this EP comes with the other three songs here not included anywhere else and that should be the reason to get this new release. As a companion to the main track, the A side also includes Double Lives in Single Beds, another reason to think this is not the evil dark little brother of the album as it is one of the most accessible and less obscure sounding tracks. On the B side they deliver another hit track with Theme From Tomorrowland that, although the voice is kind of filtered and creepy, the melody and beats are sing-along friendly. With the last track Now That I'm in the Future they finally get a bit darker although far from the noisy tracks from the Cold Cave beginnings.
Imagine this EP as a complement to the record, a collection of extra tracks that could have make it to the album or formed part of one of those deluxe editions with bonus disc so common before Christmas. Anyway, you have them download free with the coupon they give you when you buy the vinyl version of the album.

Released 20/10/09

Cold Cave - Double Lives in Single Beds.mp3

One of the main regrets this new wave of lo-fi post-punk bands like, to mention some, Blank Dogs, Blessure Grave, Gary War or Zola Jesus, is their extreme overproduction of releases together with a lack of evolution. They are accused of putting out everything they have ever recorded in a broken 80s Walkman with no particular consistency in the selection of the tracks leaving you the possibility of making a mix tape with some of their tracks and forget afterwards which songs are the oldest ones or the ones that have just been released. I particularly don't agree with this statement for some of these bands and if there's one that can prove this wrong that is Cold Cave. For those who don't know them, Cold Cave started as a one man's project, Wes Eisold, to end up being a full band. After a first single, the still available Painted Nails EP, some splits, a cassette and a self released LP, all of them compiled in the recently published Cremations compilation, you can see just a part of how this project has changed. I particularly prefer the stuff in the first EP, more noisy and ambient than the stuff on the cassette or the LP, much more industrial, hard and gothic. But I definitely got into them after the release of The Trees Grew Emotions and Died EP, published late last year. The songs on that EP found them in a more kind and poppy disguise. They even try to move into a candid dance pop in the main track and this is the point where their new EP departures from. In Edsel and Ruby, and advance of three songs from their forthcoming new album, they polish their sound into new territories with choruses and synth-pop influences. Love Comes Close sounds like New Order meets Magnetic Fields while the other two tracks are a bit closer to their own past, with darker synths and melodies. The versions of the songs in the EP are supposed to be different from the ones that will appear on the LP, suspecting they are moving into a more Hi-Fi and pop sound that I personally think that it suits them so far. I can't wait to hear it.