Giles Bidder, former solo artist as Cynics then band as Cynics, then “whoops there’s a band called Cynics“, now GREAT CYNICS, has finally got around to releasing ‘Don’t Need Much’, a back-to-basics set of “sort of acoustic songs done electric, but not really”.
Don’t Need Much lies somewhere between early Against Me! material and Lookout! Records Indie from a few years back, and it’s beautifully simple and unpretentious. The songs are all about friendship and growing up, and that’s something that roughly 107% of people can relate to, so though it’s borderline simplistic to the point of feeling a little lazy in places, it’s an absolute gem.
Songs like ‘Dave and Angela’, ‘Twenty Five’ and ‘Cider For Breakfast’ are excellently simple, and despite Giles having an unconventional vocal style, it all sits together nicely, and unless you’re someone angry at the world for no particular reason, there’s lots to love to be found within.
As the culmination of all the hard work that’s come before it, ‘Don’t Need Much’ shows a graduation from something to keep an eye to a “serious” band with genuinely impressive artistic output, and you get the feeling there’s even better things to come from the trio in the future.