Caw Caw Draws From All Genres
A mix of experimental, punk and alternative have Caw! Caw! delivering a solid effort.
Caw! Caw!
Wait Outside EP
Released on Sep 23, 2008
If your music library features Mogwai’s Mr. Beast, The Get Up Kids’ Four Minute Mile and Radiohead’s The Bends, chances are Caw! Caw! would be a welcome addition. The Chicago trio’s new EP Wait Outside has enough experimentation to make your head spin and combines punk and rock into something pretty close to perfection.
The 28-minute EP kicks off with “Escape The Red Giant.” Soaring guitar textures and solos break down into a start-stop beat for the verse. Tim Tsurutani’s guttural, even whiny vocals are unique enough to grab your attention but familiar and forceful enough to fit in with the likes of Muse’s Matthew Bellamy and Radiohead’s Thom Yorke. “Escape The Red Giant” ends with an intense swell of sound and a high-pitched, melodic guitar riff that would make even Explosions In The Sky jealous.
“Organisms” bounces in like a Cold War Kids song and features some androgynous vocals before it becomes a basement show punk tune where the lyrics “don’t matter anyway.” After bouncy verses, a skankin’ pre-chorus and a punked-out chorus, the break slows and then builds the song through a sing-along friendly section and a horn solo that shouldn’t have been cut so short.
The best song on the Wait Outside EP is by far “Wrapped Up Neat In The Bible.” Yearning guitar drives the song from start to finish, with self-reassuring, if sarcastic, lyrics throughout. “A Name” is one of the best tracks as well, but at two minutes and eight seconds, it’s more of an interlude than its own song. Tsurutani’s airy vocals in the verse preview the atmospheric “oohs” and “ahhs” that come with the chorus alongside crashing cymbals and scale climbing swells of guitar.
“Work” begins with busy guitar and click-clack percussion that carries us from a bare-bones verse into an intense chorus with Tsurutani showing off his impressive vocal range. The DragonForce-inspired guitar solo towards the end of the song clearly deserves a spot on the next Guitar Hero. Reverb-heavy guitars and a serious beat give way to a ska-sounding strum pattern and sulky strings on “Rotten Ghost.” The eerie swells of supernatural sound at the end of the song could have gone on for five more minutes and I would have kept listening contently. “Sheets” is an emo ballad with a melody repeated to meditative effect and in which Tsurutani’s vocals go from hushed whispers to full-throated wails.
The Wait Outside EP is definitely worth a listen, both because it comes from a Chicago band and because it’s just that good. Caw! Caw! is neither experimental emo nor punk rock; rather, it draws from each of those categories and produces something unique yet familiar at the same time. The EP’s small shortcomings—quiet vocals, for instance—are more than excused by where the band takes us on Wait Outside, and much more, where it might take us next.
High Point
Chicago band draws from multiple genres including experimental, emo, punk and rock to produce a seven song EP that is unique and familiar, indie and established.
Low Point
Hard-to-hear vocals mean you have to turn it up to listen in. Oh well.
Posted by Ben Wadington on Oct 06, 2008 @ 7:00 am
