Cute Is What We Aim For – Rotation
A bit of a late review, I wasn’t much of a fan of Rotation, until about the fourth or fifth listen through. Being a fan of CIWWAF’s first album I was expecting something as gracefully witty, but what I got was something totally different. Some might say a more matured sound, I would say a venture into a different market. By completely revamping their style, they tuned into the fast paced, Las Vegas style pop punk, as mastered by The Cab and The Higher. With the high-action funky instrumentals, it was no wonder why they lost a touch of their witty lyrics, which I always presumed to be their golden ticket to success. With the loss of their lyrical swagger, what can listeners expect out of Rotation?
The biggest thing that these Buffalo natives got right, was their new sound. Not necessarily improved, because it sounds nothing like the original, but Rotation has a very catchy aggressive backbone throughout. There is definitely more emphasis on instrumentals than with their freshman effort, and it’s a much more entertaining listen. While I don’t think it has as much stay-power as The Same Old Blood Rush With A New Touch, I don’t think the two can be directly compared.
The album begins with Practice Makes Perfect, one of catchiest tracks off the album. With an amazing hook, it’s homage to their older material, but alas right away there are a lot of great new things that they begin to implement. The tone of the music is more serious, and the instrumentals come off really vibrant. With fuller, more aggressive drums, guitars and the like, the music becomes a lot more exciting to listen to. The style of music this go around, is also very passionate, from the overzealous vocals to the more prominent instruments, there is a great emphasis on good sounding music.
Skipping to the third track, Navigate Me, it’s a really mellow song that slows things down a tad. Combining some really sombre melodies, it still is full of overdriven guitars and hard hitting drums. The vocals remain passionate, but everything is extenuated, and therefore has a slower vibe. We begin to see the loss of quality lyrics, and by quality I mean witty. I suppose with more mature themes the lyrics lose a sense of humour, which I loved from their first album.
The next song, Loser, is my favourite off of the album, and it’s an awesome track. From an incredibly catchy hook, to great instrumentals, it epitomizes what Cute is all about this time around. The lyrics are hopeful, and the overall song gives a sense of optimism wrapped in a very passionate tone. With a really nice grungy guitar riff, and excellent production value, it’s a song definitely aimed more for the mainstream, but has won me twice over. Also Shaant’s vocals really impressed me throughout not only this song but the entire album, and many believed him to be solely a great lyricist, but he’s capable of holding his own on the mic.
The album is full of some action packed power pop, and uses a lot of groovy instrumentals. The vocals and themes are much harder hitting this go around and there are a handful of excellent tracks. Other notables along with the ones mentioned are Do What You Do, The Lockdown Denial, and Marriage To Millions, which all have different hooks ranging from meaningful themes to hard hitting nonsense. I really enjoyed the more aggressive approach that Cute used in Rotation, it seemed that they really put an emphasis on the sound of their music. While I miss the fun memorable lyrics of their older work, I think they have done a great job venturing into a slightly different genre. Having two albums that aren’t directly comparable and having them both excel in their particular genre is always a great thing. Rotation is an album to check out, but don’t go in expecting CIWWAF of old, expect some exciting, grungy, powerpop.
Check out their Myspace for official tour dates and album info.
Cute Is What We Aim For – Loser
Cute Is What We Aim For – Do What You Do
