Bats comes just a year after the lavish and bubblegum-pink experience, This Is Our Vice, and with 12 months of experimentation and writing, Cub Sport have sonically matured in a way that some bands never fully achieve.
From the get-go Chasin’ssweeping synths and clacking drum grooves make it clear that the album is brimming with classy soul. This soulfulness bleeds through the album’s lead single O Lord, which opens with a divine a capella chant. Detonating into a funky instrumental, an aura of intimate spirituality seeps through the song’s faith-questioning hook – “O Lord, don’t turn your back on me,” – and the song’s uplifting groove.
The latter is expected from the Brisbane quartet, but there’s a greater subtle sense of gloominess and despair throughout the album’s instrumentation. Dark and murky synth parts underline the danceable groove of Bats, and ‘80s-inspired synth blips in Temporarily also have an anxious nature to them.
As well as this, a similar faith in a loved one is explored through the personal lyrics of Let U B, and Solo III. Tim Nelson’s breathy vocals are an album-wide delight, with plenty of far-ranging tones and registers to parade his voice. This is proven on the surprising acoustic number Give It To Me (Like You Mean It), where Nelson’s glorious voice floats seamlessly over a hypnotising fingerpicked guitar.
Other fun vocal tricks like the autotune on Crush, keep the band’s new-wave sound interesting and unpredictable from track to track. Using more synths, especially organ sounds, the lush guitar riffs of earlier Cubbie tunes are missed, but these synths and their percussive backing tracks bring a greater sense of spirituality to the instrumentation.
The sincere love story between Nelson and his bandmate and lifelong friend Sam Netterfield informs the album’s themes and perhaps inspires this gloomier sound. Released in a time of uncertainty, especially with the nation’s marriage equality plebiscite, a sense of thematic and audible unpredictability reflects Nelson’s and the nation’s apprehension. Despite this, the sheer power of songs like Look After Me and O Lord exist as inspirational calls to arms, and take this uncertainty and inspire faith and assurance.
The Cubbies usher in a remarkable blend of lyrical openness with sinister instrumental undertones. Delivering a unique pop album experience, BATS is a tropical yet eerie collection of songs that’ll make you dance as much as it makes you feel.
