Best way to understand Cavedoll is through the bonus tracks: Bowie’s ‘Heroes’ and The Stones’ ‘Paint It Black’. Their website might claim them as neo-new wave, but Cavedoll are really fishing in the gothic and theatrical aspects of pre-punk. It’s no disaster- the regimented beast and mannered electro touches are playful rather than uptight, and singer Camden manages to be slyly ironic and intense as he declaims over some kitsch riffs.
With synthesizers to the fore, Cavedoll have eighties kitsch signifiers off pat: Camden does a fine Bowie impersonation, while squelching keyboards loiter in the background. The dynamics are impressive: Cavedoll can lurk and attack, switching speeds whilst retaining that sinister sheen. They share a Sisters of Mercy gothic melodramatic with The Human League’s pop sensitivity.
Making albums at a rate of thirteen a year, Cavedoll might want to think about varying the mood: the tracks here do sound a little long even at four minutes, suggesting good ideas stretched beyond their time. Yet on The Shadow, the sudden intrusion of an almost whimsical psychedelia is stunningly disorientating. There is something interesting lurking in this cave.
- Bellowhead - 1 December 2008
- The Vines - 17 June 2008
- Toyko Police Club - 17 June 2008