I worry about the collective memory of musicians (though critics aren’t much better) – too quick to reference the recent band of renown instead of the founding fathers (or mothers, as it were). If we’re truthful, every answer to who influenced a band should be “James Brown,” but if we did that some dipshit would tweet “who’s that?” And they wouldn’t be kidding.
Seattle’s Cumulus is hailed as the new Best Coast or Dum Dum Girls, descendants of Elastica and Velocity Girl. But I’m gonna go back farther, because none of them would exist without the genius of Blondie, a legendary band which re-piqued my interest following the death of Lou Reed (the two were ’70s contemporaries). In Alex Niedzialkowski’s voice and Lance Umble’s arrangements, Cumulus’ debut I Never Meant It To Be Like This echoes the breadth of Debbie Harry and Chris Stein, and my pop-plated insides could not be happier.
Niedzialkowski’s voice is sweet but balanced by a background that wants to rock, giving tracks a grittiness akin to eating salt-rock candy. Plush pop opener “Do You Remember,” with its jangled guitars, begets the churning “Hey Love,” a song in the Blondie apex, with grinding guitars and dulcet lyrical tones. The heavy “End Of The World” has Niedzialkowski’s voice rivaling the powerful sound around her, while “Fiction” dives into My Bloody Valentine land, a fuzzy reverb filling the track throughout.
A throwback whether it knows it or not, I Never Meant borrows from the best for a satisfying listen.
