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