Cold War Kids “Five Quick Cuts” EP (Record Store Day 2015)
On Record Store Day 2015, the Cold War Kids issued a 10-inch EP titled Five Quick Cuts, which contained five previously unreleased tracks. The vinyl-only EP was limited to 10,000 copies.
True to its title, the short-and-satisfying EP barely takes fifteen minutes to breeze through its five tracks, which were recorded in March and April of 2014. As was the case on the California alt-rock quintet’s two most recent albums, current guitarist Dann Gallucci co-produced the tracks with Lars Stalfors; it is therefore not surprising that the first two tracks sound like they were made by a more disciplined variation of Gallucci's former band Modest Mouse. Those two tracks also take something of a retro-‘80’s approach: “Stop/Rewind” has a synth-rocking sound that recalls that decade, while “Amazing” is reminiscent of that era’s cleanly produced blue-eyed soul. On the EP’s second side, the Kids sound quite similar to the Killers, with lead singer Nathan Willett coming on very much like Brandon Flowers. The fast-moving “One Song at a Time” had radio-hit potential. “Thunderhearts” and the one-minute instrumental “Portuguese Bend” both have a U2-like guitar ambience. Do Five Quick Cuts an EP make? In this case, yes.
Cold War Kids “Five Quick Cuts” EP (Downtown DWT70404) 2015
SIDE A:
1. Stop/Rewind
2. Amazing
SIDE B:
3. One Song At A Time
4. Portuguese Bend
5. Thunderhearts
True to its title, the short-and-satisfying EP barely takes fifteen minutes to breeze through its five tracks, which were recorded in March and April of 2014. As was the case on the California alt-rock quintet’s two most recent albums, current guitarist Dann Gallucci co-produced the tracks with Lars Stalfors; it is therefore not surprising that the first two tracks sound like they were made by a more disciplined variation of Gallucci's former band Modest Mouse. Those two tracks also take something of a retro-‘80’s approach: “Stop/Rewind” has a synth-rocking sound that recalls that decade, while “Amazing” is reminiscent of that era’s cleanly produced blue-eyed soul. On the EP’s second side, the Kids sound quite similar to the Killers, with lead singer Nathan Willett coming on very much like Brandon Flowers. The fast-moving “One Song at a Time” had radio-hit potential. “Thunderhearts” and the one-minute instrumental “Portuguese Bend” both have a U2-like guitar ambience. Do Five Quick Cuts an EP make? In this case, yes.
Cold War Kids “Five Quick Cuts” EP (Downtown DWT70404) 2015
SIDE A:
1. Stop/Rewind
2. Amazing
SIDE B:
3. One Song At A Time
4. Portuguese Bend
5. Thunderhearts
Comments