Cult With No Name
Night in North Sentinel
Cult With No Name
Out July 30th 2021
CD/DD
Some 14 years after the band's debut album Paper Wraps Rock and you'd be forgiven for thinking that Cult With No Name had at least by now chalked up a few chart-bothering albums and a couple of radio hits. Somewhat surprisingly and despite numerous high-profile collaborations and commissions, the synth-wave duo Erik Stein and Jon Boux have indeed remained a 'cult with no hit'.
Not that this matters of course - album number 10 continues on from where 2019's excellent Mediaburn left off with twelve sleek, sophisticated and occasionally dark electronic-pop gems that might sound more at home in deserted urban streets or late-night metro trains than in a packed out nightclub or soundtracking some kitsch garden party or wide-open spaces.
To the unfamiliar, there are musical echoes of Future Islands, Erasure, Pet Shop Boys, OMD, John Foxx and La Roux, all topped off by observational wordplay crooned by Stein with guests that include long-time mates Kelli Ali (ex-Sneaker Pimps) and Blaine L. Reininger (of Tuxedomoon fame - they all worked on the terrific Blue Velvet Revisited soundtrack).
Standouts include the clubby Noa's Arc, the poignant Fight or Flight, the album's sweeping string-driven ballad After The Storm and the pulsating hypnotic Home Again, all strong enough to fill the airwaves. In fact, Nights in North Sentinel is pretty faultless and devoid of filler. There's also a trademark CWNN piano track - Bulletproof may just be a sardonic sideswipe at the political teflon we experience on a daily basis, while the closing misty-eyed Ruins wouldn't sound amiss on a Blue Nile album.
Comes wrapped in another elaborate sleeve which would translate very nicely to vinyl. There is also an instrumental download available.
Order here: Nights in North Sentinel