Weekly > Reviews
Cagedbaby - Will See You Now
Dance albums are getting better and better each year in my opinion, the genres are expanding and overlapping more frequently and the standard is being raised time and time again. We’ve had some fantastic debuts in the last few years from artists that want to create a lasting legacy within this field rather than being content to take their fifteen minutes of fame with a one hit wonder and a filler album built around it. You can add a new name to the ever growing list thanks to an excellent debut from Cagedbaby.
Cagedbaby aka Tom Gandey has plenty of musical stock within his family, his grandfather was a conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and all the family on his Mum’s side are classical musicians, no wonder then that he’s chosen to follow a musical path rather than his two brothers who now run the family fishmonger business. That said he has joked about combining the two before “when I was young I thought I might combine both of the family passions and become a rock star yachtsman. You know like Simon Le Bon!�
Cagedbaby is anything but classical though, it’s a modern dance album that follows the path of more established artists like Royksopp a band that comparisons are often drawn with. There are of course worse people to be compared to, it’s a favourable one for Cagedbaby but it doesn’t tell you the whole story of this album. It has a whole host of influences littered throughout it, each and every one of them are entwined within Gandey’s vision of what he wants Will Meet You Now to sound like though, it’s got a real crispness to it that gives it a fresh and vibrant edge and more importantly a distinctive sound of it’s own.
From the opening bars of Hello There you immediately realise that you’re onto a winner with this album, hushed vocals, calming beats and swathes of keyboards get the album off to an impressive start. Two singles, Disco Biscuit and 16 Lovers follow this; the former is more in your face with the beats and would sound perfect at somewhere like Space in Ibiza with its “blue skies� chorus. The latter was my first introduction to Cagedbaby a month or two back, it’s a euphoric sizzler that has lost none of its appeal in that time, a big song that should have been a hit.
- Cagedbaby
- Will See You Now (2005)
- Category: Album
- Label: Southern Fried Records
- Reviewed by: Kev
- Published on: 06 Aug 2005
- Comments: 1
- Beat Surrender Rating:
Weblinks
Add to favouritesAfter that impressive opening salvo it’s understandable that the pace should drop a little, I had high hopes for Berlin (it’s a city I’ve visited recently and loved) unfortunately though it’s the one track on the album that falls just short, it’s got a nice breakdown in the middle that keeps teasing you but ultimately is pretty forgettable on the whole. It’s a small blip though in the grand scheme of things as we are treated to a beauty in the form of Amplified Heart. It comes over like something from Screamadelica if the Primals decided to record that album now instead of nearly fifteen years ago, even the vocals have a touch of the Gillespie’s about them on this one. Never See More is in a similar vein to this and for half of Golden Triangle it looks like that is going to be the same, this though turns into a thumping electro beast half way through to take the track off in a different direction.
Against The Wall is an absolute epic track that flows breathlessly along and then the album finishes with a real flourish with two fantastic instrumental tracks. Evolution is an Orbital style track that has loads going on within it, while Marmalade is a gentle effort, featuring lapping piano waves throughout. Ten tracks, over fifty minutes and Berlin aside each of them are welcome additions to my collection. From what I’ve heard of the live version of Disco Biscuit the live show is also worth checking out if you get the chance, which I certainly will at Bestival in September.
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Comment Permalink | AtticRoom said:
Roger that on the dance front Kev. Definately agree dance is better every year. I’m a big fan of this album, although I agree it doesn’t quite carry all the way through.
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We waffle on enough without letting you lot do it too. Comments are limited to 300 characters.
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