“We’re gonna try and play you another song!” is the statement of reassurance from front-woman Madeline Follin when technical gremlins gnaw through the opening tracks of Cults’ much-anticipated set. First to succumb is Brian Oblivion’s amp, leaving him helplessly air-guitaring before Follin’s mic cuts out at the top of an impassioned vocal blast.
Yet somehow the persistence of these practical misadventures doesn’t dampen the spirits of a committed crowd who’ve packed out the Bodega with bated breath and beer in hand. Cults’ allure is in their brand of 60s-inspired bubblegum pop, adorned with twinkling xylophone and Drums-esque one-string guitar melodies, as exemplified on the glowing singles ‘Go Outside’ and ‘Abducted’.
It would be far too cliché to suggest that ‘cult-like status awaits’ for this much blogged-about duo, the best of a top crop of boy-girl twosomes emerging this spring. But it certainly looks as though Cults will have their work cut out to shake their ‘Most Wanted’ tag.
