THE CRINGE - review added 14th April 2010
Album Review: Play Thing (2010)
For fans of: Alt Rock... and monkey drummers
Play Thing, 3rd album from New York alt rockers The Cringe follows Scratch The Surface and Tipping Point. The band - currently John Cusimano on vocals, guitar and keys, James "Roto" Rotondi on guitar, Jonny Blaze on bass, Shawn Pelton on drums, plus Elaine Caswell, Neal Coomer and Catherine Russell on backup vocals - used longtime engineer Steve Hardy (Vertical Horizon, The Upwelling) on the album, and roped in some input from producer Steve Lillywhite (U2, XTC).
The vibe is pleasantly different from mainstream rock. The band pull their influences from pop, grunge, classic rock and more. There's a good mixture of sounds as the album progresses, ranging from feathery lightness, through psychedelia, up to surprisingly heavy guitar-driven balls-out music.
There's a constant, hard-to-put-your-finger-on theme throughout that ties the whole album together, so it never feels like you're listening to some cacky compilation. Play Thing sounds like a very clever experimental album from a very clever band. Main man John Cusimano - who also writes and composes the music - is a charismatic vocalist, maybe not technically the best in the world, but his off-centre style works perfectly.
Track-wise, the fun opener 'Ride' belts along at an uplifting pace, 'Weary Me' is strangely anthemic, 'In The End (We Are All The Same)' plods and, at the same time, manages to be utterly fantastically-brilliant, the smooth progressions of 'Hiding Space' take you to another world, the punky aggression of 'Friends & Family' sounds achingly familiar and cool, the Beatles charm of 'Give And Take' closes the album in style.
This is a good, very interesting album. It's hit and miss, but it's one of the finer mixed-up piles of madness I've heard in a long while. I didn't expect a lot from The Cringe. I am glad my initial thoughts were wrong.
Check out... 'In The End (We Are All The Same)'
Track List:
01. Ride
02. Weary Me
03. In The End (We Are All The Same)
04. Where It Hurts
05. No Control
06. Hiding Space
07. Start Again
08. Knee Deep
09. When I Stay Home
10. Poison
11. Friends & Family
12. Give And Take
Artist's website(s): The Cringe , MySpace
