COLD CAVE are back. Sort of. With news breaking recently of a lineup change that will see members of Blood Brothers, AFI, Samhain and LCD Soundsystem (No not James) join main man Wes Eisold for the band's next album it's difficult to know what to expect of the notoriously dark power-synth act.
In the meantime Eisold has taken it upon himself to write and produce a 3 song 7" release titled A Little Death To Laugh which picks up where the greatly underrated 2011 LP Cherish The Light Years left off.
'A LIttle Death To Laugh' doesn't waste time with introductions, immediately needling the listener with a riff of pointy electro glitches before the sound of forboding settles in like a thick fog. Where Light Years delivered plenty of soaring drama this is something far more even tempered.
Eisold's monotone delivery warbles as if a drug induced grogginess is impairing it's intelligibility. A lurking synth menaces with inevitability while the eerie overlayed effects counter the constance of it's drone.
There's a helplessness in the repetitive finale, alluding to a conclusion too gloomy to stick around to witness. But although bleak in theory, there's a familiar pop structure underpinning all the atmosphere here that leaves a haunting imprint on your brain akin to a puzzling message on repeat, begging to be deciphered.
With some nothern hemisphere tour dates currently locked in and a new album in the works here's to hoping it isn't long before the next incarnation of COLD CAVE graces our shores.
Words by Brad Davis
