Album Review: The Cast Of Cheers - Family

I for one, was pretty upset when Bloc Party left behind their indie roots to pursue more dance-orientated music, all of which ended up in Kele Okereke's solo work (uh). Well, fear not, fellow cannot-let-go-of-the-past-ers; The Cast Of Cheers have taken Bloc Party's crunchy, staccato indie-rock and have made it so, so much better.

A few tracks of Family have made it to national radio already; the title track and Human Elevator. Both of them are beautiful representations of The Cast's creative ethic: short, striking tunes that run a gamut of little experimental niches and influences. Second track Posé Mit is probably the most Bloc Party-ish, with rapid-fire drums and chords covered by a shout-along chorus. Other than that though, there are many, many weird flourishes that owe as much to the math rock of Battles, Adebisi Shank and even Hella than to any indie aesthetic. The aforementioned Human Eelevator has a spacey, bouncy synth line nailed to it; Palace & Run, despite being mostly an acoustic tune, houses a neat chord structure and Boulet-ish shouted backing vocals; Marso Sava blends tribal drums with guitars and electronic jangles borrowed from Vampire Weekend. But what stands out the most is the almost perfect rythmic syncopation of the instruments. Guitars, drums and bass (oh, what bass) flutter in and out with what at first feels like casual abandon, before you realize just how ingenious these constructions are.

The Dublin four-piece are already making it clear that they're the harbingers of something new, unique and genuinely interesting in indie-rock with this standout record.