Last month, Cults announced their new album Offering and shared the title track from the record. Today, they give fans another taste of what is to come with the single “I Took Your Picture.” Of the single the band note, “I Took Your Picture was inspired by falling into a deeper love with 80’s power pop bands like The Motels and The Cars. It’s a song about fleeting moments and how we let past feelings interrupt the possibility for good things to happen. “Tinge of blue, to the end, left our hearts, with regrets, I’m learning.” It’s a daily struggle to try and stay open and available but it’s probs worth it. And you can dance to it!”
While Cults made their name in black and white – a pair of film school dropouts who in 2010 burst onto the New York scene with a perfect single and a darkly retro sound – Offering is an exciting collection of songs exploding with heart, confidence, shimmering melody and buzzing life. The core duo remains the same – Madeline Follin and Brian Oblivion – and both still live in New York.
In making Offering Cults took their time, going through a few dozen discarded demos before arriving on a pair of songs that felt special. Once they had a direction, Follin and Oblivion enlisted longtime engineer Shane Stoneback to help guide the sessions, working bit by bit, never rushing, letting the material develop naturally. Offering will thrill ride-or-die Cults fans. At the same time, Offering goes places Cults haven’t gone before. Pink Floyd was a big inspiration, freeing up the band to try new song structures and play with vintage synths. In the 4 year break Follin and Oblivion have developed a confidence in the studio and a strong, full sound; Offering is the work of two artists who know what they want and how to make it happen.
LISTEN TO “I TOOK YOUR PICTURE” BELOW:
Offering also marks the beginning of a more collaborative phase for Cults. The pair have always traded ideas, but for the first time they sat down to jam out ideas together in a room. Follin, who has always written her own parts, came into her own as instrumentalist during the Offering sessions, playing drums and keyboards throughout. Her equal partnership with Oblivion flies in the face of a far-too-common industry assumption that women are passive participants in their own art.
After three years of work in New York, LA, San Francisco, in studios and sweaty living rooms, the band finished the bulk of recording. But it was a classic “last day in the studio” demo-happy session that gave the album its opener and title track, a hope-in-darkness song that Oblivion calls “one of the most outward-looking things we’ve done, it’s a lifeline.”Follin adds: “we both decided independently of each other that it had to be the title.”
Offering track listing
1. Offering
2. I Took Your Picture
3. With My Eyes Closed
4. Recovery
5. Right Words
6. Good Religion
7. Natural State
8. Nothing Is Written
9. Talk In Circles
10. Clear From Far Away
11. Gilded Lily
Be the first to comment