The Cubical, Album Review

There’s no prizes for guessing which period of time The Cubical appreciate most musically - the early 60’s.

Neither is there any effort to hide this on the bands behalf.

On the contrary, their enthusiasm for indulging in the styles now only faintly heard in contemporary indie music, (blues, psych) is shouted out loud with the aid of vocals that scare young children.

It really is a risk if you’ve not acquired the taste of The Cubical. If you’re happy to indulge MASSIVELY in both their chosen genre, and time in musical history, then they will please you. If you’re looking for originality in musical ideas or a wider musical perspective, well I suppose there are plenty of other things to listen to.

Captain Beefhearts’s ‘Safe as Milk’ filters through onto most of the record, which also contains Winnie-The-Pooh-sized-smatterings of ‘Exile on Main Street’ Stones, Them, The Zombies, and similar 60’s shakers.

The intentional move on the 60’s psych pop is clear from the outset with ‘Great White Lie.’ It mixes those intentions with a furious discontent of European religious conquest. This is easily deciphered with so much talk of ‘steady Bible hands…Synagogues…Locusts…History clickin photographs’ and the need to ‘teach yourself remorse.’ It’s one of the stand out tracks, owing to its depth in subject matter. Driven by a repetitive groove, it puts the listener in the same mood as the one induced by The Stones’ ‘Turd On The Run,’ which incidentally is even more influential on the ferocious ‘Ratty,’ the album’s second to last number.

There’s no let up on track 2 ‘Edward The Confessor’ which is reminiscent of The Coral’s ‘Goodbye’ in parts, and Them’s outro to ‘Gloria’ in its peaks. A genuinely insane yet passionate vocal lifts it more raucously away from the afore-mentioned artists however.

With these vocals, musical style and sound, Its clear by this point just how much this band idolise Beefhearts ‘Safe As Milk’ (so much so I’ve written it twice) but its also the point at which you consider how close they are to the fine line which stands between influence and unashamed replication. The melancholic plod, and the piano-led, Johnny Cash cowboy ballad on ‘In The Night’ and ‘All is Well’ (respectively) come in at the nick of time on tracks 4 and 5 to keep the listener from casting it off as a Beefheart replica.

‘Everything You Touch’ sits with those as the album’s trio of slower paced efforts. Don’t be expecting love ballads though, each one has haunting feelings of uncertainty and despair.

Its back to what they like most, and do well, with ‘Like Me’ which has all the hallmarks of a classic 3 minute burst of 60’s pop, ‘Zig Zag Wanderer’ style. Lyrically, like a good few of the songs, its poetic and intelligent “How can you stop/what you cant ascertain/I’ll be your fading icon/lighting up your runway.”

In the same vein but on a lighter note is ‘Woman I Need Your Love’ but again the all too prevalent similarity with Beefheart at this point begins to grate, the main riff and melodies are more or less lifted from ‘Yellow Brick Road.’

On this showing,The Cubical are accomplished musicians, excellent technically. The rhythm section is tight and influential, the lead vocal/growl is honed, and the fingers on all guitarists are busy and neat throughout. However, them same fingers seem bogged down by 60’s guitar clichés and this is a shame as anyone can see there is real talent and skill present.

Good music well done, but maybe theme your listening experience by donning retro clothing, and locking yourself in your room eating only beans (as the Beefheart legend goes)