Cute Is What We Aim For -The Same Old Blood RushWith A New Touch

Mon 2nd Jul, 2007 in Music Reviews

In a similar vein to the Arctic Monkeys, and many other bands these days in fact, Cute Is What We Aim For used the power of the internet to build up a huge following online. Before they’d ever actually released any material apart from a few demos over the net, they’d built up quite a following on the web, which gave them the basis needed to release their debut album, The Same Old Blood Rush With A New Touch.

Well, there is no other way to describe the band than… emo. I know it’s an overused label these days but these guys have that quintessential sound, like they may as well have scrawled the word all over their faces with a big black permanent marker.

Ok, I’ll admit, I too have had it up to here with emo bands. There are too many out there these days and a lot of the worse ones fall into this massive melting pot of talentless commercialism clogging up the mainstream industry. But at least these guys seem to be swimming somewhere near the top of the pot with their heads above water. That is to say, they’re one of the more listenable emo bands out there.

Although never groundbreaking, there are some unique moments on the album. One great thing about it was that, for an emo band, these guys are fairly upbeat and fun. That’s not to say they don’t have the typical depressed (and depressing) emo lyrics like “Everyone’s a let down it just depends on how far down they can go” and “in every circle of friends there is a whore.” They do. Although at times they can be more insightful, they usually lack depth in their typical commentary on “scenes” and “cliques” and being a “sell out.” But despite the fairly negative lyrics, they never delve into the ever so clichéd subject of self-harm that seems to go hand in hand with emo music these days. In fact, it was refreshing to take a look at the press photos of these guys and see that (although they do have the characteristic side-fringes) they didn’t cake on the eyeliner or have nothing but black in their miserable wardrobes. Their upbeatness is more the music itself than the lyrics, which is catchy, poppy and often has those sing-along hairbrush moments.

The better parts of the album are the songs that stray from the strictly straightedge emo structure to infuse this with a softer, pop ballad style that takes away from the sometimes harsh, abrasive emoness of their music. “Moan” is one of these, that provides evidence of the band’s abilities to have more sensitive, creative lyrics than the earlier mentioned self-loathing, depressive clichés.

Generally, there is nothing wrong with this album. There’s just nothing that really makes it stand out. These guys are obviously a bunch of talented musos and they do the emo thing well, but that’s all they do- it’s really just more of the same old thing you’ve been hearing on the radio for the past couple of years. However, it is nice to see a band that can make emo music without being totally restricted to the confines of the genre’s overused image.