Cults Bring Heart and Heartbreak to Chicago

Chicago – Heartbreak and romance tend to birth beauty in artists, and Cults know all too well about this. Guitarist Brian Oblivion and singer Madeline Follin’s reflections on love, life, and their unraveling relationship have combined for a breathtaking new LP, Static. Oblivion and Follin gained attention back in 2010 with the single “Go Outside,” before record execs came calling and by 2011 the band released their debut Cults through ITNO/Columbia. Soon the New Yorkers found themselves touring endlessly, before the strain of long, tiring days and city hopping slowly ripped them apart. After a break-up and a bit of rest from touring, the Cults hit the studio with Shane Stoneback (Vampire Weekend) and Ben Allen (Animal Collective), remerged in the fall of 2013 with their sophomore album Static, and began touring all over again. The duo opened for Vampire Weekend at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago. The sold-out show exposed Cults’ heartache and revealed a little something special.

During the recording of Static, the band brought old TVs into the studio to overlay white noise on songs like “I Know.” For the show, they projected this static onto the stage as fuzz blanketed the band in patches of color. Oblivion and Follin glowed shades of green and blue while belting out songs like “High Road.” Cults retro twist to indie pop, blending 60s pop and psychedelia, was therefore scored to an evening of trippy channel surfing. TV clips hit the stage. Cartoons danced. Horses from spaghetti westerns galloped. Follin looked like a dancer on American Bandstand. She moved like a hippie in the wind, while Oblivion effortlessly moved between his keys and guitar.

Midway through the night, Follin leaned into her mic and softly declared, “Alright we’re going to play a slow jam now.” The band broke into the oldie “You Know What I Mean.” Twinkling lights glowed behind them like falling snow as the audience bopped their heads and swayed to the beat. Toward the end of the night, Oblivion finally spoke. He quipped, “Wow, there’s a whole lot of people in here. I want to make some cheesy joke, like ‘How’s everyone in the upper deck doing?’ I guess I just did.” Laughter spread through the former hockey rink. Oblivion seemed a little nervous at times; perhaps overwhelmed by the size of the venue.

The familiar xylophone intro to “Go Outside” brought cheers from the packed pavilion. People in the upper levels got up from their seats to dance along. The steel roof enhanced the sing-along, echoing the lyrics that brought the duo success: “I really want to go out / I really want to go outside and stop to see your day / You really want to hole up / You really want to stay inside and sleep the light away.” The band then tossed in a cover of “Total Control” by The Motels. For the song, Follin grabbed her long brown locks, fists around low-hanging pigtails, and swung to the beat with passion.

Before the last song, Oblivion grabbed his microphone and told a little story about the first time he saw Vampire Weekend in a packed basement. He said, “It was clear they were going to be something special.” As Cults closed the night with “Keep Your Head Up,” the audience clapped along, and it was clear the Cults are something special, too.

Cults will be touring throughout the summer and playing plenty of festivals. You can find tour dates posted on their facebook page.

(Photos by Sarah Hess: smhimaging.com)

Sarah Hess

Sarah Hess

At the age of six, Sarah Hess discovered True Blue by Madonna. This resulted in her spending hours in front of the bathroom mirror with a hairbrush microphone, belting out "La Isla Bonita" off key. Her love for music only intensified over the years thanks to her parents; her mother exposed Sarah to The Jackson Five and had her hustling to the Bee Gees, while her father would play her albums like 'Pet Sounds' and 'Some Girls' from start to finish, during which he'd lecture on and on about the history of rock & roll. Sarah would eventually stumble upon rap and hip-hop, then punk and alternative, and fall madly in love with Jeff Buckley and film photography.

After attending The School of the Art Institute in Chicago, Sarah went on to study education at Dominican University, earning a degree in history. When not teaching, writing, or taking in a show, she is most likely to be found with a camera to her eye or hanging out in a darkroom.


You can follow Sarah Hess on twitter at @Sarahhasanh and view her music photography on her website: smhimaging.com.
Sarah Hess

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