The way we were before

Out of all of the amazing album releases to get excited about this year (Palma Violets' debut 180, White Lies' Big TV, I could go on) I think I'd say I was most excited about this one. The second release from New York based Cults. The band released an incredible 60's girl-bandy debut in mid 2011, and have been pretty quiet ever since. I Can Hardly Make You Mine surfaced in the summer and hinted at what the duo had been up to. Madeline and Brian may no longer be dating, but their music certainly hasn't lost the chilling charm that made people interested in the first place. 

I think it's fair to say that Static is somewhat darker than the self titled first offering, whilst retaining twirly, dreamy sounds and Madeline's glorious unique vocals; one of the key factors in distinguishing Cults from just about every other band on the planet. On the first few listens it's a bit tough to pick out individual tracks. For a lot of bands I find this pretty annoying and in some cases quite off-putting, but in the case of Cults I think it works. It makes listening to Static more of a journey than a collection of tracks.
I'm a sucker for a good debut album and it's rare that my favourite album by an artist isn't their first. So while nothing can top Cults for me, Static is a fantastic album nonetheless. It definitely fulfilled my expectations and I'd stick it in my top five favourites of the year in a heartbeat.

My favourite tracks are I Can Hardly Make You Mine, So Far, We've Got It and No Hope.

PS I love what they've done with the artwork and how it kind of looks like the first. It's like it's showing a continuation or something like that