Cult With No Name - [X] Into I - CD/DL - Cwnn Music
It's lovely when musicians and artists care in these hard times. Donating to charity, cutting ticket prices, supporting small venues and various other acts of philanthropy. Cult With No Name are no exception - included with this, their eleventh album, is a little magnifier to aid old people like me in reading the admittedly tiny sleeve-notes, lyrics and those all-important track titles. Thanks guys.
For this set, written and recorded fairly recently by long-term pals Erik Stein and Jon Boux, the arrangements are even slicker than before, yet still retaining plenty of warmth and character and those unmistakable CWNN melodies (and the occasional pun).
There's a trademark atmospheric track called Reigning Cats and Dogs where Stein opines that "I'm denying it's me or you that sponsored this ... watch the rivers rise, watch the boats capsize..". Then I'll Spend 9 Lives With You with the declaration of "9 times we'll sink into the blue, 8 times you'll pull me through...". Lastly, You're On The Run (Not On The Move) insists "...wars. People think they've won, but they mostly carry on through proxy actions steered by some top guns...". It's hardly Sleaford Mods but it doesn't need to be - the barbs seem to land in the right place and say and mean the same thing, albeit under a cloak of glorious swoonsome arrangements that sounds for all the world like a ten-piece orchestra is in tow, rather than two fellas with machines.
The overall mood of [X] Into I is melancholic and perhaps cynical, despite the uplifting opening trio of songs lulling the listener into a false yet reassuring sense of security. And then Snake Oils rolls up a little over halfway through to drive home the disdain felt about our paymasters and liars-in-chiefs.
As with just about every other Cult With No Name opus, here is another beautifully arranged and performed set that even rises above the previous triumph Nights in North Sentinel. How do they do it? You'll just have to buy this and find out.
9/10