New Single : "Sacred Heart" b/w "Twins"
07 December 04
4AD released Cass McCombs's debut album - A - less than a year ago, but he's already back with another collection of songs, following his muse into strange new places. The new record is called PREfection, and it's one of those rare follow-ups that genuinely justify the expectations raised by a debut.
"Sacred Heart" is the first song from the new album to see the light of day, and it's a case in point. A departure from the bleakly beautiful drone-grooves of A, "Sacred Heart" is a pop song, of sorts - albeit one shot through with oblique and tantalising imagery. For all the surface jauntiness, there's a dark undertow which enhances Cass's growing reputation as a truly distinctive talent.
The flip on this double A-sided single is "Twins", a soulful, brooding ballad which was recorded in London and showcases Cass's intuitive way with melodies, harmonies and vintage slapback echo. "You lied to me and I to you, I guess we deserve each other, though I'm damned if we do", he sings – like many of Cass's songs, this is Romanticism with a capital "R". Despair, flights of bizarre fancy and, sudden, mordant humour are all blended beautifully by a wordsmith talented beyond his years.
Both songs are delivered in Cass McCombs's unaffected and unique voice - sometimes brittle, remote and wavering, at other times a tender croon, brimming with conviction.
"Sacred Heart" is out now on both 7" and CD. PREfection follows on the 7th February 2005.