Cougar - Stay Famous [Single]

Counter Records

October 10, 2009, 09:03 PM

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Cougar. To me the word conjures either a muscular, predator big-cat or an under-powered and unmissed Ford sports coupé. So Cougar the band: muscular or under-powered? 'Stay Famous' by the Wisconsin instrumental rock quintet from second album “Patriot” only partly answers the question for me.

‘Stay Famous’ starts with pounding drums and ominous guitars, it is definitely loud and most definitely muscular. The band’s own description of their music, ‘emergency music’ absolutely rings true at this point. It then fades into a quiet interlude, all scattering drums and electronic shimmer overlaid with rippling guitar lines. This bliss-out moment starts to build in intensity as the drums fill in until the crescendo ceases suddenly and that opening guitar riff returns before a final fade to the end. It is powerful and cinematic with a crisp studio zing but it never really catches a hold. It feels like the soundtrack to a movie car chase: compelling in the moment and supporting the action on screen but not truly distinctive in its own right.

The switching of tempos and styles continues on the other two songs on the single. ‘Digit Cleaver’ leaps to life with fuzzy electronic beats before settling into an electro-skank with furious beeps and rushes colliding in and around it. Maximo Park’s Paul Smith sings, with heavily treated voice, a series of questions (‘what’s this society?’ ‘what kind of party is this?’) that doesn’t really make any kind of sense. Towards the end the beats increase and overlap and the song veers into club territory before easing into a quieter passage. ‘Foil Epee Sabre’ that follows is a banjo-and-piano countrified strum-along that settles into – and for once stays with – a pleasant, jaunty pace but it still feels inconsequential.

Blending styles and genre-hopping is generally to be applauded but here it makes for a curious aural journey; the twists and turns feel awkward and forced, and the hooks don’t sink deep enough. ‘Stay Famous’ is definitely ‘muscular’ but Fuck Buttons and Battles to name but two have set the bar high for this genre-shredding, propulsive electro-post-rock. Cougar need to work harder to keep up with that leading pack.

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