Next week sees the release of EP1, the debut five-track from CUTS, Invada Records’ mystery-shrouded purveyor of expansive, noise-ridden instrumental works, with, so far, fittingly dark-hued videos for each (watch ‘CUTS 02’ below). It’s out on a strictly limited run of 300 12"s, and an even more rarefied VHS release featuring all of the videos, with only 30 copies due, and the label have kindly given us a first play of the record in full.
As the text accompanying the record’s announcement explains, CUTS’ influences are "abandoned spaces, white noise and sleep paralysis", a trio that loom large in the music, where the buzz and hum of fed-back electronics get underscored by the undoubtedly sinister-feeling creep of industrial percussive mechanisms. Midway through opener, ‘CUTS 01’ (it only makes sense that the anonymous CUTS would title his tracks with catalogue-like numerics), for example, a burst of razing guitars cuts through the darkened layers, but can’t quite escape the menace of the half-heard vocals beneath. That’s not to say there aren’t moments of light, rather that when they come – as with the lapping waves of feedback that finish off the second track, or the third’s vocals, buoyed by a fuzzy upsurge – they’re spectral, rung through with distortion. Avail your ears of it above. EP1 will be out on August 18; head to Invada’s online shop to get hold of a copy upon release.
