Customer Reviews

Cassidy

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The thing about Cassidy is that it's not that different from Blush. The only real difference I noticed from both CDs is that Cassidy has more female vocals and actually appears to be slightly softer than Blush. None of these things is really a bad thing, but they aren't necessarily good things. The tracks are still as charming, and still as different in comparison to most other CDs out there. The bad thing is that they lack individuality. One track seemlessly flows into the next, which normally is a good thing like in Boards of Canada's "Geogaddi" or Stereolab's "Sound Dust", but in Cassidy, it just makes them indistinguishible.

'Luftsang', the title track in Cassidy bears a striking resemblence to 'Big Wings', which is the title track in Blush. Granted, both tracks are awesome, but it just seems a tad identical. It's almost as if Luke Sutherland was rushing the CD in some way, but instead of sacrificing musical beauty, he ended up losing a sense of interest in each of the tracks. When he was in Long Fin Killie, his CD 'Amelia' had a spark. When he made the metamorphosis into the alias of Bows, there was another spark, but his follow-up CD ends up being a dull knife trying to penetrate the side. For those that didn't care for Blush, they probably wont care for this. And for those who loved Blush, they'll love this, just possibly a little less. Despite some of the problems, it still surpasses other CDs as far as the eye can see.

...in the same spirit as Sutherland's BOWS debut "Blush", this courageous album solidifies his masterful leap in transforming the original darker intentions of triphop to chill-out and "lighten up" already. How? Well, he makes it all seem so easy by recombining only the finest blends of warmest world-grooves with its cooler counterparts born of ideas that originated in the realms of My Bloody Valentine/Cocteau Twins dreampop. Voila!!! Like magic, a little bit of heaven descends into the larger themes of emotional addictions and physical excess. "Cassidy" is the equivalent of finding an azure blue oasis right smack in the middle of urban anxieties. This music has tranformative powers....and will quickly have you in a state of aural transcendance and bliss. All the darkness that had pervaded early triphop bands like Portishead and Massive Attack is tossed into the cumulus outter-space of gamelan inspired bells and chimes decorating Sutherland's mystical, groove-laden sonic landscapes. The innovative beats and vocals that inhabit this rare collection of songs are, in a word, sublime. AN INSTANT DOWNTEMPO CLASSIC! NOT TO BE MISSED! GORGEOUS AND HEALING PARTY MUSIC!

ever since their debut cd "blush" this band has remained one of the best kept secrets in the music industry today and their sophomore effort "cassidy" is nothing less than stunning in terms of their superb ability to incorporate complex texture and rhythmic layers this band has found a unique voice that makes them stand out from the rest of the trip-hop/electronica bunch which is an acute sense of melodies and a wonderful mixture of atmosphere and substance to make this band a well-rounded musical wonder so long story short this is a fantastic achievement by one of the most under-heard bands on earth today and thank you for reading by the way don't forget to go out and get the cds by ALPHA they are brilliant.

Luke Sutherland really impresses me. It surprised me how much lighter this CD is than his first, and still just as good. Highly recommend this to anyone with a good ear for new sounds.

It's ethereal mid to down tempo trip hop, almost ambient in a way with a little bit of this and a little bit of that thrown in for good measure. Think cocteau twins with a little bit of my bloody valentine; a touch of every trip-hop artist you can think of with dreamy male and female vocals; and random drum'n'bass beats with weird sound effects thrown in when you least expect it and you've got bows cassidy. Not as dreary as alpha's latest, `the impossible thrill' and not as manic as lamb's debut. It falls somewhere in between, excellent chill out music.

On every trip hop CD there's at least one track that's pure perfection. Not a single note, bassline or lyric needs to be changed. Massive Attack's `proctection'; lamb's `lusty'; nicolette's `song for europe'.

With Cassidy it's `man fat' and `B Boy Blunt'. `Man Fat' incorporates dreamy floating vocals over the most delicate drum'n'bass beat with sadly ambiguous lyrics. Is she singing to a drug-addicted boyfriend? An abusive boyfriend? And when she sweetly sings the line: "Whatever makes your day . . . for YOU. Anything you say . . . it's ALL lies." GOOSEBUMPS!!!!

`B Boy Blunt' has perfect breakbeats and when the track pauses for a moment of silence and then the words: "So long to BOYS!!!!!!!!" kicks in with the beat its AMAZING!!!! Simply amazing. Half way through the song, it pauses again, then the words: "So over JOYED!!!!" kicks in with the beats which are slowly swallowed up by a My Bloody Valentinesque sonic wall of guitar feedback. Wonderful!

The production values on `cassidy' are amazing and each track is atmospheric and dreamy (check out 'cuban welterweight ...' only a simple bassline and gorgeous vocals) but because this is a different type of trip hop it does take a few listens before fully appreciating its wonder and beauty. I think it's partly because there's several vocalists on this CD: Luke Sutherland, the mastermind behind bows (who is also a novelist); Ruth Edmond, a personal friend of his and the voice behind `man fat'; Signe Hoirup Wille-Jorgensen, a Scandinavian vocalist who has been compared to bjork; and someone else called the Cream Team.

Ton Ten All The Way Home is listed as the twelfth track but actually it's one of those annoying hidden tracks that appears about eleven minutes into track eleven. All in all this is by far one of the coolest CDs I've ever bought on a whim. I'm so excited by it that I plan on going out and buying their debut release `blush'.
If you're looking for an intelligent take on trip hop, bows `cassidy' is it.

Wow. This is a surprise. Bows' last release was hampered with a repetitive quality and an annoying sarcasm that was difficult to overcome. "Cassidy," on the other hand, is sheer ethereal bliss. Beats shift into soaring melodies, guitars plink and strum where harps should be, and the tempo constantly changes, speeding way up before quieting down at the end.

Those listeners discontent with Luke Sutherland sounding bored on "Blush" will be happy to know that he no longer plays as if he is above his audience. There are nothing but airy, dreamy love songs- albeit strange ones- like a supposed affair between Mohammed Ali and Jackie Kennedy Onassis, on this record. The melodies are pure bliss, and the strings and electronics backing them up make it an even greater pleasure to listen to.

My only problem is that with all the breathy vocals, no bass, and very little traditional song structure, there is nothing that you can really grab onto on this disc. You keep waiting for it to come, but true nirvana, it seems, is just barely out of reach, almost taunting the listener. But other than that minor gripe, "Cassidy" is easily one of 2001's best releases.

Think drum & bass heaven style.

European quirk-tronica can only go so far. Unfortunately Bows missed that memo. I am not sure what happened between their much-heralded debut, 1999's Blush, and their new record, Cassidy, but somewhere somebody missed something. Perhaps I'm just not hip enough to get this record, I don't know. Bows is what Japanese mixmeister Cornelius would sound like after half a bottle of Nyquil. That's not to say front man Luke Sutherland is without talent; his would just be better served as one of Bjork's many collaborators. I kept hoping I would be rescued by the theme song to Mr. Magoo but instead was left with empty atmospherics and a Scandinavian chanteuse.