Album Review: Caveman - Caveman

This self-titled album is the second to Caveman's name, distributed by independent American label Fat Possum in their progression towards signing younger lo-fi bands. Caveman is an atmospheric, ethereal piece of work that serves as a wonderful background record and occasionally a great close listening album. It gives the simultaneous impression of being both ethereally timeless and straddling various genres and eras of influence.

The first single off the album, In The City, is a synthy '80s revival track with flavours of M83's similarly titled Midnight City. It's a gentle, danceable indie-pop tune that emphasises vocalist Matthew Iwanusa's echoing, almost choir-like vocals.  However, the rest of the album falls short of repeating the energy. The songs are generally strong in isolation; fluid, expansive and dream-like. However, where In The City is memorable, other tracks blend into each other to the extent that they are almost indistinguishable, floating pleasantly past you instead of grabbing your attention.

That said, the mild and drifting approach really shines through in Pricey, which beautifully combines Iwanusa's musing, airy vocals with deeper melodies. The song evokes a darker synth pop and prog-rock sound, evocative of The Cure with a modern indie twist. The track begins with a stripped-back bass section that not only breaks the mould of the album, but showcases an understated dynamism.

While Caveman doesn't build and rarely captures your attention, on close listening it's a multi-faceted and subtle album with dense and delicate instrumental sections. Caveman demonstrates the difficulty in achieving cohesiveness without repetitiveness or flatness, even with a group of talented and experienced musos such as those in Caveman. Hopefully their future will embrace an evolution into bolder work that strays outside the now ubiquitous Brooklyn indie-pop norm.