It does seem rather curious – pardon the pun – to find a cover version (albeit an adapted one) as the second track on an album, and while Caned and Able’s rendition of The Cure’s ‘Lullabye’ is entirely competent and true to the spirit of the original, it’s also rather pointless – the additional spoken word lyrics don’t really benefit the song in any way.
But talking of puns, consider for a brief moment the band’s name. To base the moniker that will define your career and no doubt your commercial appeal and fan-base on a lousy pun isn’t a decision to take lightly. What does the name ‘Caned and Able’ actually say about the band?
‘Cosmosis’ is an album with range – from the jaunty indie-folk of I’ve Got You Now’ to the choppy new wave dub style of ‘Confusion’ via the orchestral indie of ‘No More Roller Coasters’ and the sub-Ian Brown bagginess of ‘A Million Light Years’ and ‘Three of a Kind’. The first track, ‘It Keeps Me Up’ is a high energy indie rocker with a pulsating synth and throbbing beat, and from the off it’s clear they’re a band with both talent and musical ambition. But that doesn’t mean that ‘Cosmosis’ is any good. If anything, the band seems to have an overinflated sense of their own importance (the press release refers to them as ‘Mercury Music Prize contenders. Really? Where were they on the shortlist then? Paying the entry fee does NOT make them ‘contenders’) and this interferes with the music. Their members may have credits that include Siousxsie and the Banshees, Gene Loves Jezebel, Hugh Cornwell and Primal Scream, but wrapping the songs in excessively polished production is only half the issue as all too often they threaten to disappear up their own arses, embarking on swirling pseudo-baggy workouts that don’t really go anywhere.
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The end result is an album that can best be described as patchy and is far from essential.
Caned and Able Online
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