CAGED ANIMALS - EP REVIEW

Caged Animals - The Overnight Coroner EP (Lucky Number) 
Caged Animals - The Overnight Coroner EP

It would be incredibly easy (and lazy) to label this EP by Brooklyn five-piece Caged Animals as quirky. So I won't. Instead, I will suggest that if you fused the music of Darwin Deez, Jim Noir, the Strokes and David Kitt then you might be getting somewhere near the melodic but subdued music these guys and girls create. 'The Overnight Coroner Attends A Party' opens the EP but instead sounds like the closing music for a lo-fi from New Zealand about dreams, love, lust and disappointment - its actually more about the trials and tribulations of everyday life but that's not what's important here, focus people. The squelchy bass and delicate chimes of 'Working On The Downfall' are sublime and provide the perfect foil for singer Vincent Cacchione's too-cool-for-school vocals.  

The haphazard beats and muffled bass notes that introduce 'The Turnaround' suggest that somebody in this band has benefited from watching an awful lot of art house movies as the music has such a cinematic quality to it that you can't avoid picturing film scenes unfolding to the undulating melodies. The final song on this EP is 'The Lat One At The Party' which starts like a Regina Spektor tune before the spoken word vocals perfectly encapsulate the feeling of waking up after an awesome party only to realise that the rest of the world is still going on and the Flaming Lips are on a loop in your head. The EP actually finishes with a track that lasts over half an hour with the title 'The Overnight Coroner Finds What He Is Looking For' which is a semi-confessional spoken word story about Vincent's time working as, you guessed it, an overnight coroner. It's not unenjoyable but it is a little self-indulgent and kinda kills the spirit of the EP a little but if you treat like a good, old fashioned 'secret track' then it works in this format. All told, this interesting stuff that is covered in city life and cultural influences that give the music rich, tasty layers to enjoy time and time again.


More information: http://cagedanimals.net/ 

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