Cheatahs
Cheatahs
Wichita Recordings – February 11th 2014
By Joshua Khan (@blaremag)
Find it at: iTunes | Insound | Official Store
8.0
Truth be told, Cheatahs don’t do discreet. It’s even shocking to see the Londoners casually flirt with poppier sounds but it’s those same sounds that craft a recipe for buzzing guitars that essentially hit you like a molotov. Their songs ricochet off grunge, Oxford shoegaze, and a level of emo that can only be channeled through numbing textures and Ride’s Nowhere, and it makes the pretty appealing “The Swan” the least appealing cut on Cheatahs. For once, you can blame art-rock. “Geographic” and “IV” float about like meatier yet more restrained DIIV/Pale Saints freak outs while “Northern Exposure” and “Leave To Remain” expose a fondness for scabbing the skin with serene punk shifts.
They dump the dreaminess, ultimately ripping flesh with bleached out melodies (“Get Tight”) as Nathan Hewitt’s voice scrapes the edges of the gorgeous aesthetics that make disaffection such a satisfying fix. More so than his peers, he gels with every composed riff and intensified drone, adapting to the group’s collective sketching of what sonic lust should look like if it wasn’t so saturated with Loveless knock offs. Cheatahs are dynamic and it helps them to gradually instigate a perma-high – rattling stereos and giving alternative the colour scheme it rightfully deserves.
Listen: “Northern Exposure”, “Fall”, “Leave To Remain”, “Geographic” || Watch: “Cut The Grass”