ALBUM REVIEWS
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ALBUM REVIEWS |
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Cuddly Shark
CUDDLY SHARK ARMELLODIE RECORDS 16.11.09 @www.vanguard-online.co.uk
‘We’re punk, we are!’ scream the outfit of Cuddly Shark from the very first moment of track one, “Bowl Of Cherries”. At least we know what to expect… Cuddly Shark describe themselves as ‘Glasgow’s finest art-school hillbilly rockers’ (I can’t imagine they’d have much competition), but I would disagree with their classification. What we have on this, their eponymous debut offering, is a strong punk record with youthful anger and dissatisfaction at its core – something that is rather far away from both the art-school and hillbilly labels. Of the twelve tracks on offer, many stand out as being very good, and most of these for the same reason; they epitomise the angry punk attitude that made acts in the seventies, eighties, nineties and noughties so successful. “Woody Woodpecker”, for example, is a simple swing/blues song, but has punk tendencies running through it, so making an average (and slightly silly) song that bit more brilliant – for while it’s hard not to worry about the sanity of the singer in a lot of songs, he contains the anger to a small dose at the end here. “Mannybix” is more out-and-out a song sung by a psychopath, with a disturbing use of repetition and a title that hints at all sorts of possibilities. Similarly, we find “12 Months”, an angry song about longing for, ahem, a female’s touch after some time without it – again, with the control slipping away from the vocalist. The final track, “Shakey Baby”, takes this psychosis to the next level and lets it all hang out. There are some songs that prove the breadth that Cuddly Shark have, though: “Boney Fingers” is a cover of an original by Hoyt Axeton, and starts like “Living Next Door To Alice” – it’s a traditional blues song with the brilliant chorus: ‘Work your fingers to the bone / what do you get? Boney fingers!’ and is a more low-venom, sane offering. “The Sheriff Of Aspen Bay” improbably references Led Zeppelin (without really needing to), while “Whiteoaks” is a decent Indie record with little punk audible. Penultimate track “Instru-mentalist” does what it says on the tin – it’s the least punk track of the album, which is a good thing, as we get to see what the band are capable of when they’re not venting their spleen. Cuddly Shark prove a lot of points with this album. They show that they are angry but controlled, strong but wanting and punk but capable of much more. A strong offering, and I look forward to more from them. www.cuddlyshark.co.uk |
