Band from Wales. Pop-punk. Right? Think again. Cuba Cuba are masters of the soundscape, and their electronic accented indie (for want of a much better and descriptive taxonomy) is as edgy as it is uplifting.
The band’s meandering debut album ‘Where Else Is Safe But The Road?’ sees the band fully grown, interesting and progressive without being alienating, and it’s exactly the sort of release that Walnut Tree are brilliant at getting out there.
It may fall foul of few people expecting balls out rock or uncomplicated jangles, and it’s most definitely a bit of a thinking man’s record, but it’s one that the band can be really proud of, and with any justice it may creep on a few “Best of…” lists by the end of the year.
Opener ‘Building Blocks’ and closer ‘Away Part 2’ (which features the towering vocal of Tiger Please‘s Leon Standford) bookend the record perfectly, but it’s a record to be absorbed and enjoyed as a whole, and one that will find itself on loop many times before you realise that you’ve been listening to it for ages. If you’re even remotely interested by the way it’s just been described, then you’re in for a treat as it’s practically unputdownable.
Out June 2011 on Walnut Tree Records