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It’s not often that you have good reason to get over excited about a debut album just fifteen seconds into the opening track. But Cazals’ inaugural long-player is proof that these occasions do exist and it’s well worth the wait. Signed to French fashion label offshoot Kitsuné Music, Cazals have been around for a few years, slowly perfecting their craft and changing people’s detached shoulder shrug perception of the band to rising whispers of justified anticipation.
Arguably one of the most exciting bands in Britain at the moment, not only is the album an immense triumph, it’s also testament to their collective determination, independence and communal work ethic which sees the band managed by guitarist Daniel Gallagher and the album produced by bassist Martin Dubka. All things being equal, the band are set to skyrocket with the release of ‘What Of Our Future’, anything less would straddle the border between criminal and insane.
Well formed, instinctively driven and expertly controlling the explosive energy that the album exudes, Cazals immediately prove their worth with the brooding numbness of ‘New Boy In Town’ and the jerky stop-start clash of ‘To Cut A Long Story Short’. Pillaging electro tempos and rock stylistics in equal measure, the album is familiarly refreshing and electrifyingly honest. The soaring and at times deadened vocals and intimate relationship between guitar, bass and drums is astounding and so entrenched that it effortlessly infiltrates and struts all over ‘Somebody, Somewhere’ before quietly creeping into the initially muted ‘Control OSS-117’ and on through the pinpoint accuracy of ‘Poor Innocent Boys’ and ‘Life Is Boring’.
The band, wholly in tune with each other, quite simply shine as their music, constantly evolving, seems to take on a life of its own. Propelled by infectiously well placed choruses, chiming instrumentation and fervent self-belief, the elctro skewed bass percussion pairing is self-evident throughout and most apparent in the unspecified menace that manifests itself in the all consuming and self-punctuating ‘A Big Mistake’. ‘Comfortable Silence’ is quite simply stunning from start to finish and ‘Both Sides’, which grows from a humble beginnings, delivers a suitably impressive and full blown impact and once again sees Dubka excel.
To say that the best is saved for last would be a lie as the album is bursting with top drawer material, but the slow build full frontal assault that ‘Time Of Our Lives’ provides is the perfect end to an almost perfect album. Going by this effort, Cazals are here to stay.
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