myspace cadets: cardigan drive0
Posted In Music
Due to my impending departure from Norn Iron *sniff* I’m running a new feature called MySpace Cadets. (Feel free to groan.) Every week I’ll review three bands that have come to my attention through the flawed medium that is MySpace and try to provide a free download from each band. This week’s first band are Cardigan Drive.
Awkward rhymes, witty lines and a popular folk style are core components of the Cardigan Drive sound. It seems like half the Bangor music scene has been part of the band at some point or another with Lou from Kowalski and members of Captain Cameron but the one constant has been Gregg Houston (the face of Babysweet TV). Cardigan Drive have a nice lo-fi sound that transports us to a house on a small farm somewhere in the American Midwest, and for me it’s quite easy to hear the influences of early Bright Eyes and Elliott Smith upon the material produced by the band.
Tracks like “We’re Bigger Than The Beatles” are both irreverent and self deprecating, pointing out the fickle nature of the music press at times. The bassline keeps bouncing up and down, driving the song along with a folk by numbers guitar part. “She Doesn’t Like Alcohol (But It Helps Me Sleep)” is irritatingly catchy but the vocals get lost in the mix and distract you from the biting lyrics. Occasionally there’s an awkward harmonica part thrown in for good measure which can distract a little bit from the core melody but on the whole it’s good stuff. The demos on Cardigan Drive’s MySpace aren’t great quality, but despite this there’s a lovely warmth from a number of the tracks. I’d be interested to see the band live but gigs appear to be a rarity, which is a shame!
Check out: She Doesn’t Like Alcohol (But It Helps Me Sleep), Autopilot Blues and We’re Bigger Than The Beatles.
Free Download (via NIChart): She Doesn’t Like Alcohol (But It Helps Me Sleep)