I really enjoy a good dance album (eh-hem, “Discovery”) with peppy dance songs (AGGH, “DISCOVERY”) and something that’s just out of left field (…sigh…”Cosmogramma” or “No Más”) Did I mention I like to dance? Well, after hearing “Zonoscope” by Cut Copy, I had to stop for a second and think: “why am I not dancing?”
The generic profile of this album keeps it from going anywhere past neutral. Sure, it’s well-produced, yeah, it’s clean, but that doesn’t mean shit if you aren’t able to back that up with non-boring songs. Its first effort comes in “Need You Now”, which is something of a build-up track and it fails to please or pump up in any way. Getting a rise out of the box is absolutely crucial to an album of this sort, and without that I feel it already fails half-way. Next up was “Take Me Over”, which could have potentially been the best track on the album, until the later third where this stupid, cheesy synth breakdown comes in and makes everything sound like the most bummer kind of lame. Instead, the best track on here is one that I had heard half a year ago, “Where I’m Going”, which is a pretty fine song, I’ll admit. Here comes the major gripe: all the songs after “Where I’m Going” (which is the third) are not memorable at the slightest.
More than a few times this album reminded me of Yeasayer’s 2010 effort “Odd Blood”, with the poor mixture of disco and eighties synth-pop. Even their vocal deliveries get too similar. Point: I don’t like “Odd Blood”, so it’s best not to tip me over into your endeavor, Cut Copy, if it’s vibing like that. The songs I’m referring to here are “Pharaohs & Pyramids” and “Corner of the Sky”.
My big concern about this album, though, is the over-saturation of synth-pop in music these days. I know that it’s already Cut Copy’s background, but artists that were previously rooted in other genres and sub-genres are now “diversifying” by throwing in some sweet synth. Of course there were recent successes from Sufjan Stevens and Caribou, but then I have to look back and think about what made me dislike other synth-pop embracers like Vampire Weekend with “Contra” and Abe Vigoda with “Crush”. It was the fact that they started making synth-pop. “Where I’m Going” was a good song to show listeners last year what the new background of Cut Copy was, but they keep pulling themselves to these noises and desires that it makes it troubling to me. Is synth-pop cocaine, or is it just some sort of drug craze that will pass by like cheesing? And boy, this album is hell of cheesing.
WINNER: Andrew
WHY: “Zonoscope” was an effort that didn’t make me angry, but frustrated me to no end. The band is not that capable, but they had something sort of okay going on with the songs that they were releasing last year.
Fermata over Whole Rest 