Album Reviews

- by Gregory Lambrechts

Slight nausea with a healthy dose of hope overcame us when we heard Iona Cairns was leaving Great Cynics. We knew one of our favourite bands was never going to be the same again, but we did have a brand-new band (kinda) to look forward to. New line-up, new album, and to get completely out of their comfort zones, the remaining bands members headed down to the States to record Cynics’ 4^th studio album ‘POSI’.

We heard through the grapevine that members of Modern Baseball and Hop Along had a hand in the recording process. There’s no obvious influences from these bands oozing from the tracks. Most of the parts that hit our sweet spot (especially "Butterfly Net", "Let Me Go Home" and "Blue Roll and Duct Tape") even come off as classic Cynics. When we say 'Great Cynics is a brand-new band', it’s more because half the line-up changed and because of the renewed energy and fun they seem to have found during live gigs. If you didn't know about the line-up changes, you’d still recognize it as a Cynics record. It might even have some of their best work on it.

You know a track is good when the band literally plays it 50 times in a row and you’re still not sick of it. Only in memories is a straight up tune from beginning to end and definitely one of the best songs that this band has ever written. Everything from that catchy returning intro to that brilliant and uneasy lyric “remember when 21 was old” instantly takes you back to your most fun gig memories with all of your friends (or mates, as the Brits like to say). Top 10 song material of the year for us.

It’s obvious that losing a key member in your line-up is not just a formality but we feel like Great Cynics 2.0 is doing more than holding its own. POSI promises and delivers a fine feel good album with a perfect release date. We can already dream the outdoor lolz to this collection of 2017 biggest Summer soundtracks. Pretty stoked to see how this band will evolve further into the future and can’t wait to see them have fun on stage again.

Track listing:

1. Let Me Go Home
2. Only in Memories
3. Blue Roll and Duct Tape
4. Happiness, London
5. Shabba Shabba
6. Don't Buy The Sun
7. Easily Done
8. Too Much
9. Summer at Home
10. Butterfly Net
11. Things We Don't Need