Looking back at the brief bloghouse epoch, Cut Copy’s output endures in the test of time. Contemporaries The Presets and Midnight Juggernauts cultivated a more immediate impact at home with little residue in 2017, while Empire Of The Sun have established themselves as festival headlining mainstays.
Where does that leave Cut Copy in 2017? Impervious. Which is as good a place to be as any. Haiku From Zero mellows in the wake of Free Your Mind’s euphoria, shying away from giant moments. The ear for melodic hook is seldom telegraphed by huge builds, yet present in the cry of “Don’t let me down tonight,” over a bed of guitar-funk shimmer. Withholding elements that would be better utilised as a decent chorus till the song’s close is a strange formula utilised throughout – it works on opener ‘Standing In The Middle Of A Field’, less so on ‘Living Upside Down’ – while misplaced faith is given to choruses proper on ‘No Fixed Destination’ and the otherwise solid ‘Black Rainbows’.
Cut Copy revive their status as a capital ‘B’ Band on Haiku From Zero, at the apparent cost of capital ‘M’ Moments. There are plenty of those in the bank, yet Haiku From Zero bears little reward in its direction.
