Cosines

Last year I blogged about Alice Hubley and Simon Nelson's trigonometrically inclined band Cosines after being knocked out by the bright, breezy and darkly subversive single that was "Hey, Sailor Boy"... "The finest 3'36" of poptastic pleasure as was released..." (or so I wrote) that ended up on my 8track 2013 anglo-mix retrospective.

The band released their eagerly awaited debut album "Oscillations" last month (although after checking-out the Legrendre Polynomials of the album's artwork I woke up screaming after dreaming I'd been whisked back in time 30-odd years to a particularly grim Engineering Mathematics lecture...) 

 
You can immediately tell how good an album is by how long it takes for a tune to get stuck in your head and which you then find yourself whistling the refrain - normally quite badly - at the most inappropriate of times... One listen and I'd already remembered why I'd been hopelessly smitten by the way that those wry, clever lyrics are neatly subverted by Alice's homely vocal delivery; the swirling synths, harmoniously chugging bass and guitar and that rich gorgeous 60's organ...

But then "Lookout mountain drive" kicks-in. There's that guitar again weaving in and out with the synth... The way that the lyrics hint at a weary acceptance of adulthood and the crushing weight of conformity that looms ever large... But it's Simon Nelson’s vocals that are narrating this impending compliance with society's mores. I've mentioned previously how much Cosines remind me of the criminally underrated The Chefs but on this track Simon's voice is a dead-ringer for Carl Evans...  It's a stonking tune with a stupendous middle-eight... And yes, I still can't get that bloody refrain of "lookout mountain drive" out of my head!

Actually the album's opener, "Out of the fire" sets the tone of this album - fuzzy synths, jangling guitars, pounding percussion - and Alice Hubley's matter-of-factness when chronicling a broken dream and an even more broken relationship, "You were happy for a short while, Miserable for the longest time,” before lifting us with an upbeat and melodic chorus... Cosines - as they ably demonstrated with "Hey, Sailor Boy" - do chorus refrains big-time and another one crops up on the poppy, organ-infused "Nothing more than a feeling."

The 60's undercurrent that was so noticeable on the band's debut surfaces with a vengeance on "Walking away" - all 60's R&B and the steady-patter of high-hats - building to swirling, oscillating keyboards - all held together by Alice telling our listless heroine that packing up and moving-on to better things is the option to take.

The 60's vibe returns with the (almost) instrumental refrain that is the  half-time break of "Pop-in-court", a song that is all frothy keyboards and rhythmic plinking of the marimba (I would have said xylophone until I checked the album's credits), until about 40 seconds from the end when Alison berates those who don't like her music with the put-down riposte that she cares “about these things, more than you.” Not going to psychoanalyse this comment, since it's obviously not addressed to me! 

And while "Binary Primary" offers a complete change of pace - staccato rock, pounding drums, psychedelic keyboards and lyrics - ultimately this is a consistently classy indie-pop album. I particularly like the way that as the album draws to a close with the haunting trumpet solo on "Misguided me" before the achingly beautiful and deliberately downbeat "Our ghosts" draws the curtain down on this most assured debut.

With this album Cosines ably demonstrate that when it comes to the art of contemporary British indie-pop, the band are up there with Fear of Men and Veronica Falls. The public at large just haven't realised it yet...

Cosines "Oscillations"