Cut Copy: Zonoscope Review

Artist: Cut Copy
Album: Zonoscope
Label: Modular

It’s hard to believe that a band like Cut Copy hasn’t been around since the 1980s. But the Australian new wave electro-pop ensemble have only been together for ten years and have released just three full-length albums. Therefore, Cut Copy’s brand is nostalgia, taking you back to those Pretty in Pink days, with a modern dance twist a la Chromeo.

Cut Copy’s third album, Zonoscope, offers to take us on a journey back to a time when hair was big and denim was acid-washed. “Take Me Over”, the first single, gives a less than subtle nod to fellow Aussies Men at Work, a fresh concoction of “Land Down Under” and Fleetwood Mac’s “Everywhere”.

“Alisa” begins with a “Hungry Like the Wolf”-meets-surfer rock riff, adjoined by the OMD-like vocals of lead singer Dan Whitford, computer bleeps, and strings. It’s a strange mix, but it works.

“Hanging Onto Every Heartbeat” manages to take a melancholy bass line and acoustic guitar and blends them with harmonies, hand-clapping, and synthesizers in a way that when Whitford sings about drifting away through the sky, it feels like you are, too.

While Zonoscope has a strong opener, “Need You Now”, a xylophone-infused track with an intro suspiciously close to I Blame Coco’s “Self Machine”, its closing track, at fifteen minutes long, is more vexatious than enthralling.

The thing that makes Cut Copy great, however, is that they recognize that they’re a throwback band, even naming a track “Strange Nostalgia for the Future”, which basically sums of the group’s character perfectly. For those of you who have worn out your Talking Heads and Bauhaus albums, Zonoscope is a perfect modern addition to your library.

Rating:  

Written by Jessica P. Wallin

Cut Copy: Zonoscope on iTunes

buy it at insound!