Jagged guitar sounds compete for space with shouty vocals and pounding synths on the debut from Belfast trio The Cutaways. The boy-girl vocals of guitarist Paul McIver and keyboardist Grace McMacken work well, particularly on tracks like ‘Milo of Kroton’ and ‘Lovers are Lunatics’. ‘I Spilled Your Drink So You Broke My Heart’ is also a well-executed pop song, featuring such quirky lyrical gems as ‘If the ground hasn’t already swallowed anybody whole could it please start now’
‘Earth and Earthly Things’ is certainly one of the more upbeat albums you’ll hear and there’s almost a scatter-gun approach to some of the melodies, particularly on ‘Weapon of Choice’ and ‘Wrong Cause, Right Words’.
At times the songs have a feeling of barely contained chaos but the band still manage to retain a sense of coherence to their overall sound as their pop sensibilities shine through. The album’s highlight is probably ‘I Don’t Understand What You Don’t Say’, which is a bit less frenetic and features some nice vocal interplay and funky guitars.
The pace never lags throughout and there’s enough unexpected interludes and odd tempos to keep things interesting. All in all, ‘Earth and Earthly Things’ is a very likeable effort, and I imagine The Cutaways’ energetic indie-pop makes them an exciting proposition live
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