21 Nov 2024
UsernamePassword

Remember Me? | Join | Recover
Click here to sign in via social networking

Cub Sport - Album Review: This Is Our Vice

10 Mar 2016 // A review by camy3rs

You may or may not be aware of it - but ever since the phenomenon that is Lorde took over the world, overseas eyes have been on New Zealand and Australia waiting for the next of her ilk to arise. 

Now, I’m not one to attempt to name ‘the next big thing’, but if the Pop revolution is finally on the way and Brisbane-based Cub Sport is not leading the charge, someone has messed up.

This Is Our Vice opens with the brooding synth and collective vocals of Sun, an interesting opener that steps up in tempo, but maintains brevity through the contrast of the almost off-handily dark lyrics and easily sets the pace for the rest of the album. I Can’t Save You follows on with one of the catchiest intro riffs I’ve heard in a while (Reminiscent of The 1975), before breaking into a super catchy, killer chorus.

Next up, It Kills Me was written by lead singer, Tim Nelson, for a friend who started working in the sex industry. The bass line is amazing by itself, funky and driving, but there is a sort of gritty aspect brought by the under layered synth and whispered vocals, making this one of my favourite songs of the collection.

The album's first single Come On Mess Me Up is in good company - there is no loose end to this collection and in fact, an almost tedious kind of care is obvious in the construction of each piece (reflective of both HAIM and The Naked and Famous’ first albums).

Each song is so meticulously pieced together, like someone fine-tooth combed out any unnecessaries and carefully managed to keep both the tone and encompassing feeling free of that over-commercialised, too-slick vibe (a feat in itself).

This Is Our Vice is what Pop music should be.

 
Share

About Cub Sport

There are a handful of seminal bands from Brisbane, Australia—The Saints and The Go-Betweens, among them. But few have achieved the breakout success that the dreamy indie-pop group Cub Sport has in merely three years. The blissed-out, anthemic title track from their first EP, Told You So, attracted global attention, which in the U.S. alone vaulted it up the top 20 college-radio chart. And based on enthusiasm for that debut, their second EP, Paradise, won Stateside audiences, too, thanks to airplay at influential radio outlets such as KEXP, WXPN and KCRW.

Lead singer Tim Nelson originally from New Zealand (Dunedin) moved to Australia & has recently toured everywhere from Singapore to Philly (“Some people drove four hours to see us he says, the American crowd is dedicated!” he enthuses), Cub Sport also features guitarist Zoe Davis, drummer Dan Puusaari and keyboardist Sam Netterfield— and their hotly anticipated debut album This Is Our Vice (Nettwerk) will debut March 4th. If Nelson, who’s also the principle songwriter, has a superpower, it’s effortlessly transforming mercurial topics such as self-doubt and self-immolation into an expanse of shimmering harmonies and sticky melodies.


Visit the muzic.net.nz Profile for Cub Sport

Releases

This Is Our Vice
Year: 2016
Type: Album

Other Reviews By camy3rs

Myele Manzanza - Album Review: OnePointOne (Live At The Blue Whale)
20 Nov 2016 // by camy3rs
There are very few percussionists I can think of that would be able to pull off a live recorded album that falls even into the same league as OnePointOne (Live At The Blue Whale). From the opening bars of A Love Eclectic and onward throughout, the whole collection draws on many contrasting genres, cultures and aural motifs that somehow harmoniously flow out of and into each other.
Read More...
Openside - EP Review: Push Back
21 Oct 2016 // by camy3rs
Admittedly, home grown pop-rock has never been a particularly easy sell in New Zealand, but when Openside started turning heads with last year’s single Worth It the group began a rather rapid ascent, opening for various international acts including Twenty One Pilots and Melanie Martinez, selling out their own secret headline show and culminating in the recent release of their debut EP Push Back. The collection opens up with the hook-laden All I Really Want – catchy as all hell, the song initially comes off as the kind of upbeat, self-help anthem you might put on a mix-tape for your best friend who was recently dumped.
Read More...
Gig Review: Broods @ Vector Arena 15/07/2016
02 Aug 2016 // by camy3rs
It’s a wee bit of a sad state how seldom a full line-up of Kiwi acts take the stage at Vector Arena, but hopefully after the success of Broods’ Conscious tour, we can see the wheels begin to turn a little more in favour of New Zealand bands. The night opened up with Blenheim-based newcomers, October.
Read More...
Broods - Album Review: Conscious
12 Jul 2016 // by camy3rs
With the follow up to their 2014 debut album Evergreen, Broods are back again with another collection of the moody, atmospheric, dance-pop that gained them their notoriety. Conscious is a straight up beast of an album.
Read More...
Kaushun - Album Review: Tonight
25 Jun 2016 // by camy3rs
Aside from having one of those names that makes fans wary of mispronounciation, Kaushun (pronounced as ‘Caution’), is a electronic music producer based in Auckland, but originally from Leeds in the United Kingdom. Tonight is the producers second album and a decent mix of run-of-the-mill dance/club beats, interesting electronica soundscapes and some high tempo pieces that wouldn’t go amiss on the soundtrack to a futuristic David Fincher film.
Read More...
Gig Review: Avalanche City @ The Powerstation 03/06/16
21 Jun 2016 // by camy3rs
Dave Baxter and ilk have become a rather large part of the quilt of Kiwi music – encompassing all of the personality traits that Kiwis seem to love in their icons, modest about his skill, understated in the news, seemingly soft spoken and dedicated to his practice. Avalanche City itself is a bit of a pop wonder - the roots in folk and country that set the band a part from other pop acts should (at least, to Kiwi audiences) be the proverbial bullet in the heart, and yet at every point they defy the odds.
Read More...
Ladyhawke - Album Review: Wild Things
05 Jun 2016 // by camy3rs
Pip Brown is the kind of musical artist I forever wish that the world had more of, - intuitive, intentional and innovative. Everytime a new Ladyhawke album is released, the incremental advances towards an even more polished, cohesive and  genre defying sound are obvious.
Read More...
Gig Review: Drax Project @ Neck Of The Woods, Auckland - 13/05/16
04 Jun 2016 // by camy3rs
Roughly three years ago, I remember walking down Courtenay Place in Wellington and stumbling across a three-piece jazz ensemble playing top 40 pop and RnB covers outside of the Reading Cinema. I’ll tell you now, you have not heard Katy Perry until you’ve heard these guys play Hot ‘n Cold with a saxophone covering the entire lyrical line.
Read More...
View All Articles By camy3rs

NZ Top 10 Singles

  • APT.
    ROSÉ And Bruno Mars
  • DIE WITH A SMILE
    Lady Gaga And Bruno Mars
  • BIRDS OF A FEATHER
    Billie Eilish
  • TASTE
    Sabrina Carpenter
  • I LOVE YOU, I'M SORRY
    Gracie Abrams
  • ESPRESSO
    Sabrina Carpenter
  • SAILOR SONG
    Gigi Perez
  • LOSE CONTROL
    Teddy Swims
  • A BAR SONG (TIPSY)
    Shaboozey
  • GOOD LUCK, BABE!
    Chappell Roan
View the Full NZ Top 40...
muzic.net.nz Logo
100% New Zealand Music
All content on this website is copyright to muzic.net.nz and other respective rights holders. Redistribution of any material presented here without permission is prohibited.
Report a ProblemReport A Problem