Cut City
Where's the harm in dreams disarmed?
self-released
When I first heard "The sound and the sore", my first exposure to Cut City's final chapter, it was immediately evident that the band had continued the evolution evident between their first full-length, "Exit decades", and the phenomenal "Narcissus can wait" EP. Still, this was little preparation for "Where's the harm in dreams disarmed?" While it saddens me considerably that this will be the last we'll hear from the band, the album is a fitting farewell. There is not a weak song on the album, and the ground covered -- in terms of the songwriting, the instrumentation, and the emotional landscapes explored -- is more than I could have expected: opener "Void" resonates with all of the passion found on "Narcissus...", its nervous energy emerging from whispers of instrumentation; "Future tears today" is dark and anthemic, unnerving yet beautiful, confidently moving toward its end; "The kids of Masochism High" with its crushing waves of distortion and screaming lead guitar has become one of my favorite songs penned by Cut City; and "Left of denial" would not feel out of place on a John Hughes film soundtrack. And that only briefly covers less than half of the songs; I could easily write as long a post as I did for "The sound and the sore" for most of the tracks on here.
This may be their last battle cry, but I have little doubt that Cut City's final album will echo long into the future, and deservedly so.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson
